A bit of background, the famous alcohol brand Hennessy has been making a new blend for the past 5 years, this one known as Hennessy 8 and as you may have guessed, another limited edition.
The famous cognac brand has moved over and is now making its way into crypto; the high-end brand has partnered with blockchain platform known as BlockBar for the sale of this limited cognac. This luxury brand released its first NFT’s on 12 January 2022 which were priced at $226,450.
Only 250 copies are available however only 2 of those are being sold. The first one and the last one, these bottles are being held at the price of 70.47 ET (Ethereum’s) on BlockBar and this amounts to approximately $22 7141.02 USD according to the market on 14 January 2022.
How it is done
If one has got the funds for this cognac, one can look forward to either collecting it, trading it later or consuming it wholeheartedly. To go forward with the process, a buyer purchases the NFT (non-fungible token), this shows ownership. The buyer goes ahead and receives a cryptographic version of the bottle which is “held” by BlockBar. From there the buyer has two options, either to redeem it physically or one may opt to go ahead and trade it on the marketplace for a higher price, believe it or not many people will be waiting for it. This was seen in October 2021, when BlockBar launched and released the 15 bottles of the limited version of Glenfiddich, these sold out in literal 4 seconds!
Another perk of owning these limited editions is that these buyers will be invited to visit Hennessy’s estate in France, something many collectors would die for.
Other than the marvelous design of the bottle, the liquid itself honors the legacy of the 7 of the house’s master blenders, combining one eau-de-vie (this is a brandy) from each generation of blenders and presenting it in a limited-edition, ultra-luxury formatting. The design of the bottle itself includes a commemorative sculpture and a Baccarat-blown and engraved carafe, along with a pipette, cork holder and chest designed by Arik Levy and made with oak staves from La Sarrazine, the Hennessy cooperage.
Why NFTs in the alcohol industry?
Other than the fact that this helps maintain the prestigious name LVMH group these back up, this is also a way to protect a liquor collection because these are asset backed NFTs and the Co-Founder of BlockBar, Falic did mention that “At BlockBar we only partner directly with brand owners, such as Hennessy, and therefore the NFTs serve as a digital certificate of authenticity, eliminating any concern for counterfeits.”. It helps maintain authenticity and it helps avoid frauds and copies of this alcohol which is something that a whole new demographic of collectors is interested in. This is something that many alcohol collectors look forward to. Once again this is a promotional tool for BlockBar itself seeing that this is a highly valued brand.
In my opinion I find this very prestigious, and it is a way to protect the brand as well as to inject a large amount of revenue from the few sales of the limited edition. However already there are talks on social media where many claims are being thrown saying they are limiting those who can’t afford, and everyone should get a fair chance at consuming this alcohol and this may later cause problems in the future. In many cases, many duplicates may spring up from this.
Source
https://www.bevnet.com/spirits/2022/hennessy-launches-first-ever-226k-nft-collection-via-blockbar/
https://www.ledgerinsights.com/hennessy-to-sell-exclusive-cognac-through-nfts/
I think that’s a great move from the LVMH group, because, honestly, when it comes to cognac, a lot of people buy Hennesy not because they really like it, but because it’s prestigious. the same thing with NFT buyers ( in my opinion), because u can just screenshot the picture, but “owning a right” on it its much more prestigious. So, good job, they know the psychology of their buyers.
Maybe this action will push the world to the next step and enlarge the amount of spheres where NFTs will be accepted, so we just have to wait for other companies join the trend.
Every day more and more companies are being introduced into the field of cryptocurrency and nft. Who knows, maybe soon we will be able to pay for purchases in the store using nft.