Historic Opportunity Kinsale Spirit Company to auction Rare Irish Malt Whiskey on the NFT platform OpenSea
Live auction Friday 23rd April – Friday 30th April 2021
Kinsale Spirit Company goes to market with the first ever Whiskey Cask represented by an NFT (A non-fungible token) and auctioned on the NFT marketplace OpenSea. The 200-litre cask of Rare Irish Malt Whiskey, is live for auction until Friday, April 30th https://opensea.io/collection/rare-aged-irish-malt-whiskey-casks
The blockchain powered platform allows the viewers and future bidders to see full traceability from when it was entered into auction. Speaking on the project, Co-Owner of Kinsale Spirit Company, Ernest Cantillon says;
“I’ve been a keen observer on the sidelines of the NFT world for a long time and always wanted an opportunity to get involved. I thought that combining the rapidly evolving world of blockchain to such a traditional business as whiskey would be fun – such a juxtaposition. When this whiskey was laid down nearly 20 years ago, it would have been hard to even imagine the whole world of NFTs and cryptocurrencies.”
Kinsale Spirit Company plans on integrating these digital auctions into their offering combining digital and physical. While opening up new channels of whiskey aficionados and avid NFT collectors and crypto currency enthusiasts.
Red Earl Whiskey is part of the innovative Kinsale Spirit Company’s Battle of Kinsale Series which is themed around historic characters who fought on the Irish side in the Battle of Kinsale in 1601. Released in April last year, Red Earl Whiskey is already being exported to several countries, including strong sales in the US and China. Work is under way in their distillery for the delivery of two more whiskeys later this year: Great Earl Single Grain Irish Whiskey named in honour of Hugh, The Great O’Neill, and Spanish Earl Single Malt Irish Whiskey, in honour of Juan del Agula, representative of the King of Spain who fought alongside the Irish.
Kinsale Spirit Company came about when Kinsale native and publican, Tom O’Riordan realised that the town of Kinsale is known for its excellent food and drink and felt a locally produced spirit product would both benefit from and help this international reputation. He also noticed the emergence of gin in the craft spirit category and along with his sister Clodagh, and friend and fellow publicans, Ernest and Colin Ross, they began the journey that resulted in Kinsale Gin. They have now reached the phenomenal milestone of their 100,000th bottle of Kinsale Gin. The move into Whiskey production has been a natural progression and Kinsale Spirit Company look to be producing 300,000 bottles per annum, producing Irish Whiskey, Gin and other spirits in time.
This is a first ever auction of a whiskey cask in this way and an opportunity to be involved in the development of the on-going success story that is Kinsale Spirit Company.