Finally, an NFT you can drink. Sort of. Johnnie Walker tokenises rare set of Blue Label ‘ghost’ whisky

Now here’s an NFT use case we like. A non-fungible token that represents authenticated ownership of a bottle of irreplaceable “ghost” Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky, as well as generative art that might well go up in value over time.

Frankly, late on a Friday afternoon, we’re preferring the thought of this to a cartoon profile pic avatar with either dubious claims to long-term value and utility or none of either whatsoever. (Don’t get us wrong, there are some cool NFTs out there of that ilk… it’s just a wheat and awful lot of chaff situation.)

The whisky in question is 75 limited-edition bottles of the Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Port Dundas Master Set.

And to bring it to the world with NFT…ness, which we’ll explain in a sec, Johnnie Walker, in association with Diageo, has teamed up with NFT marketplace for wine and spirits BlockBar.com as well as Web3 consultancy Vayner3. The latter is a company run by US entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, a renowned NFT convert.

NFTs… whisky… what? Why? Lemme just drink it already

If you can get hold of one of these rarities when they’re released (see bottom of article), you can definitely drink it already. But then again, if you believe in the value of whisky-related collectibles, you might want to consider holding on to it a while. Or at least, holding onto the NFT version of the bottle, which acts as your digital certificate – an official proof of ownership.

Aside from the NFT element, what makes this release special is the Ghost and Rare series is crafted using irreplaceable “ghost” whiskies and other rare expressions from the Johnnie Walker reserves. Ghost whiskies come from distilleries that have been closed for some time and are no longer producing, adding to the whisky’s rarity.

According to the people at Johnnie Walker, the batch of whiskies used in their 75 Master Sets have been crafted by master blender Emma Walker and “explores the character of exceptional and rare whiskies from one of world’s most famous grain whisky distilleries, the Glasgow ‘ghost’ distillery of Port Dundas,” which was built in 1811 and closed in 2010.

Note: there will be a general release of the product hitting shelves in October, but the 75 Master Sets are only available through BlockBar.com.

As the press release explains it, the Master Sets feature a physical 1L bottle with signature by Emma Walker; the NFT bottle (a digital version of the bottle); a unique digital art piece by award-winning generative AI artist and photographer Ivona Tau; and a behind-the-scenes “virtual storytelling experience”.

To burn or keep, that is the question

Actually that’s one question. Another two are: how does the NFT component actually work? And how can I score one of these?

The 75 limited edition Ghost and Rare Port Dundas Master Sets will drop on BlockBar.com at 10am ET on Friday, September 9.

The proof of authenticity and ownership NFTs representing the whiskies will be priced at US$775 each and can be purchased from BlockBar.com with Ethereum (ETH) or by using a credit card.

At 10am, the first users to reserve will then have just 10 minutes to pay at checkout and receive the NFT of the physical bottle, which is stored with BlockBar until the bottle owner is ready to “burn” the NFT to redeem. Bottle owners can gift or resell this NFT on the BlockBar.com marketplace.

Also, those who do choose to burn their NFT version of the bottle will have priority access to the next Diageo drop on BlockBar.com.