INTERNATIONAL. Amber Island, a new community dedicated to rare whisky, has been established by the Gebr. Heinemann innovation and vision hub GHARAGE. It seeks to develop one-of-a-kind experiences and to enable members to source and collect whisky products (real and virtual).
It is designed as a “global web3 community that brings together people with a shared passion for whisky, NFTs, and/or the intersection of those”.
Alongside a website Amber Island has announced its first token. The Amber Island Key grants members access to all areas and perks that come with the community.
The team behind Amber Island features individuals with backgrounds and experience in liquor, retail, tech and brand building. These include senior figures from the Heinemann organisation including Co-CEO Max Heinemann, with the Hamburg-based retailer and distributor a key investor in the project. More on the team can be found here.
GHARAGE Managing Director Lennard Niemann said: “Looking at Web3 as a technology we do believe that it will influence our industry. Therefore, we created Amber Island. To bring that concept to life, we have put together a team of experts, some internally from Gebr. Heinemann, some from other fields. Max Heinemann is on board, advising on future retail strategy and representing the investor Gebr. Heinemann. Ruediger Stelkens [Director Purchasing Liquor, Tobacco and Confectionery] brings his profound knowledge of the international whisky market to the table.”
The Amber Island team is collaborating directly with brands and distilleries to find whisky for its first release later this year. Each whisky available will be provided directly by the distillery and stored securely. For each bottle Amber Island creates one NFT, representing ownership of the physical bottle.
The NFT also represents ownership of a fraction of the cask. The owner can exchange their token for a whisky bottle at a fixed date in the future. Other benefits are being explored alongside the offer of NFTs.
A Gebr. Heinemann statement noted: “The GHARAGE team focuses on developing models that open up new opportunities for travel retail outside of the core business. GHARAGE also invests in start-ups to innovate travel retail and the traveller journey. The focus lies on physical retail and experiences, consumer goods and digital first business models. Therefore, GHARAGE is also responsible for concepts like Highsnobiety Gatezero.
“Future technologies play a big part in this and the Amber Island concept is based on such a technology. It is a web3 community created for and by whisky enthusiasts, merging virtual and real collectible assets.”
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