Welsh whisky pioneer Penderyn backing up rare single malts with NFTs

Penderyn Distillery CEO Stephen Davies says he took a leap of faith into the unknown creating NFTs to back-up a collection of their 20-year-old bottles of whisky.

The man at the helm of one of Wales’ more unusual exports recently turned to non-fungible tokens with NFT platform Paiverse – a process he admits initially left him scratching his head with confusion.

“To be honest, when I first got approached by Paiverse, I didn’t really know my non-fungible tokens from my layer 2 to my liquidity pool – it’s been a real education,” he smiles.

“But we can see the new trend to utilise NFTs as a digital mark of authenticity. We are very encouraged by this development.”

Despite the original bemusement, the Brecon Beacons-based distillery is now minting Penderyn NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. It also boasts Welsh football legend Gareth Bale as a shareholder and ambassador.

Penderyn isn’t alone in using blockchain technology to validate and preserve the providence of its most exclusive and expensive bottles. Scottish industry giants Dewar’s, Glenrothes, Glenfiddich and Gordon and MacPhail’s, Glen Moray and Balvenie have all turned to NFTs

Opened on St David’s Day 2004 by King Charles III when he was the Prince of Wales, ‘The Welsh Whisky Company’ exports to 45 countries and, since 2016, has won 85 Gold/Masters awards.