The scene was set at Edinburgh Castle on Thursday night with flaming braziers at the drawbridge and staff on hand leading the way for a special viewing of the historic Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Scone.
Then it was time to move to the Redcoat Room for aperitifs and the assembled guest were then led by piper Louise Marshall into the Jacobite Room for a short introduction from our host about the business and a superb dinner.
The whisky tasting was led by expert, Charlie McLean, who explained and described the three small drams in front of each guest, beginning with a 23-year-old Bunnahabhain, traditional a “mild kind of whisky”.
But the reason for the evening was not solely to enjoy a dram, but to hear about the new way to buy or invest in it. The evening was to mark the launch by Whisky Genius of a blockchain-driven global marketplace.
The company will assist investors and collectors to discover and trade in investment-level bottles and casks of rare whisky. WhiskyGenius says it is clear that all trades will be conducted cost-effectively and transparently through Secure Digital Ownership, which is all verifiable on the public blockchain.
Murray Holdgate, CEO and founder of WhiskyGenius said: “Our mission is to put together a secure environment for whiskey, essentially weed out the bad actors, as we know, whisky goes over to Asia and gets inflated in price, we want transparency, we want to upgrade an industry by technology. It’s simple.
“What we’re putting together is a platform where everyone that wishes to come in who is a “good actor” within the market can create a microsite. We want to be the LinkedIn, we want to be the Amazon, we want to be the master class of whisky all in one place where everyone can enjoy it. You can create this custom connection that doesn’t exist.
“It’s not a scary technology. It’s not something that we should shy away from. It’s an ownership structure. If you want to go back in time and talk about it, it’s a deed that sits with your lawyer, that is about owning a physical asset. That’s all it is, it’s nothing else.”
To mark the occasion the first rare whisky available for purchase on the platform was a limited 50-bottle allocation of The Glenlilvet 23-year-old which sold out in under 24 hours.
Mr Holdgate said after the event: “We couldn’t have wished for a better launch for WhiskyGenius, set in the majestic Edinburgh Castle, our first event has certainly set the pace for future occasions. Our goal is to create a secure environment for whisky where it doesn’t inflate in price as it moves between continents. With our technology, we are proud to upgrade the Scottish whisky industry and connect stakeholders, investors, enthusiasts, distilleries, brands, and consumers unlike anything before. It is a community built on transparency where people from all areas can learn about whisky, enjoy whisky, and invest in authentic products in a secure and innovative way.”
Raphaël Jouve, Global Marketing Manager for The Glenlivet at Chivas Brothers, Pernod Ricard – one of the leading spirits organisations in the world – said: “The WhiskyGenius model is compelling and is opening up new markets, giving our brands the opportunity to connect with new audiences. With The Glenlivet we’ve always tried to do things in a unique and different way, and the NFT space is something that we’re looking to invest more in the future. We are delighted to offer a limited 50-bottle allocation of our Glenlivet 23-year-old as the first product to launch on the platform and see how dynamic the market is with the NFTs. At I’m grateful to our team at Pernod Ricard in Hong Kong for making this happen; it was an honour to be part of the platform’s launch.”
Charlie MacLean said: “To me, whisky is the world’s finest spirit and Scotland’s most generous gift to the world. It was an honour to be invited to speak about some of our nation’s finest drams at Edinburgh Castle with WhiskyGenius and its guests. I began to research and write about Scotch in 1981 and it’s fascinating to look back on where we’ve come. It’s important that we continue to help whisky be enjoyed across the world.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
