The tangible product is Hennessy-8, a blend of eau de vies from the firm’s last 8 master blenders.
Proving that even a 250-year-old Cognac producer is not too old to learn new tricks, Maison Hennessy will on Wednesday launch its first NFTs – non-fungible tokens – consisting of numbers 1/250 and 250/250 of an offering whose primary fungible asset is a elegant decanter or carafe called Hennessy-8, which consists of a blend of spirits produced by the maison’s last eight master blenders, including the current one, Renaud Fillioux de Gironde.
The price of purchase will be 58 ETH, a digital currency, or about US$226,450. The transaction is being handled by BlockBar, and details of purchase can be found at BlockBar.com. Potential buyers can access a digital lobby at 9:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday, January 12, providing they have 1 ETH in their wallet and have it connected to the site. At 10 a.m., all users in the lobby will be shuffled into random order, and then BlockBar will proceed through the queue until a buyer is confirmed.
Upon purchase, the cryptographic version will be held for the buyer by BlockBar with a record of authenticity held on the blockchain as a digital certificate of ownership. The buyer may claim the physical part of the transaction and have it delivered from BlockBar’s secure storage facility or trade its NFT version within the BlockBar.com marketplace.
This physical cache will include:
- A decanter of Hennessy-8,
- A commemorative sculpture,
- A storage chest designed by Arik Levy using oak staves sourced from La Sarrazine, the Hennessy cooperage along with a jewel-like copper key to open it,
- A companion toolbox containing four tasting glasses, originally designed 30 years ago by glassmaker Georg Riedel and Yann Fillioux, as well as a pipette made of oak barrel wood and a cork holder,
- A keepsake brochure describing the genesis and spirit of Hennessy·8, and
- A personalized authentication plate and a numbered certificate.
The remaining 248 casked decanters will be marketed separately by Hennessy.
Online pre-sale presentations will be made by Hennessy and BlockBar on Instagram Live (@thecarsonchan) on Tuesday at 9 pm HKT, and Twitter Spaces (@BlockBarNFT) on Wednesday at 9.30a.m. EST.
