A Victoria-based brewery is the first of its kind to produce a crypto beer.
Last week, Whistle Buoy Brewing unveiled the brewery’s newest creation, The NFT IPA — a collectible crypto beer with accompanying digital artwork.
The limited-release beer, of which they’ve made only 250 cans, is a special edition 32 oz can of beer numbered by hand, so each buyer knows which one they’ve collected.
The creation is the brainchild of partners Isaiah Archer and Matt West-Patrick, and digital artist Ryan Steele.
But hold on.
WTF is an NFT?
NFT stands for non-fungible token. Done. Easy, right? No.
Ok, let Isaiah Archer of Whistle Buoy explain.
“It’s more or less a unique piece of digital artwork,” said Archer. “The non-fungible part means it can’t be traded; it’s unique and not replaceable — it’s a collectible.”
That’s better.
What about the token part?
Well, the token part means that it’s a piece of work, like a token to play an arcade game, or a ticket to a concert. It’s not money per se, but it definitely has value.
But what makes an NFT special?
The part that makes an NFT so unique nowadays is that it’s supported by the blockchain network; the same network that houses cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
What does this have to do with beer?
Archer said NFT’s are “a new frontier of art and marketing,” and that it piqued his interest because Whistle Buoy launches a new beer every week.
“I was following NBA Topshot [where NFT’s first became popularized], and they sparked my interest. Since then it has become a more pertinent thing in popular culture,” said Archer.
“So we thought, since we [Whistle Buoy] launch a new beer every week, we could merge these two worlds.”
Whistle Buoy paired up with Victoria-based digital artist, Ryan Steele, to create this unique digital artwork below to go alongside their newest beer, the NFT IPA.
Archer knew artist Ryan Steele from working at Phillips Brewing, and felt his digital artwork would “fit into what we at Whistle Buoy envisioned.”
So far, this is the first ever crypto-beer that we here at Victoria Buzz are aware of, and it is perhaps the first merging of beer and NFT’s in the world so far.
The beer is pretty on-the-nose; it’s named not only after the crypto-art but also for its ingredients.
Here’s Whistle Buoy’s hilariously explained tasting notes:
Bullish or bearish you’re going to want to buy the dip, buy the drop, buy the beer. Aromas of citrus peel and grass give way to a wave of melon, papaya, and grape to take you to the moon. This beer is a limited offer so pump and dump before the whales get it all or Elon tweets about it. Brought to you by the hops [N]elson Sauvin, [F]lex and [T]rident.
So how do I get the NFT?
The NFT beer is a limited edition beer like any of Whistle Buoy’s other beers; there’s 250 golden cans available, each 32 oz. at $12 a piece. Anyone can purchase the beer from their website and the cans are numbered so buyers know which one they’ve collected.
But the actual NFT…or at least….the digital NFT artwork (not the beer) — well, that will be awarded to the highest bidder of the artwork on the NFT marketplace, OpenSea.
Whoever has the highest bid will receive the first-ever can of the NFT beer, as well as the crypto-art seen below:
In order to bid on the NFT, you have to have a crypto wallet, which means you essentially have to have cryptocurrency.
You can bid on Whistle Buoy’s NFT here.
You have until June 4th, and as of this publication the highest bid is $200/USD.
Note: In the grand scheme of NFT’s, this one is actually on the cheaper side —Twitter boss Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet as an NFT for just over $2.9 million dollars.
Whistle Buoy’s Crypto Future
Asked whether this was going to be a mainstay for Whistle Buoy, Archer said they were interested in it, but for now, they’re dipping their toes in the water.
There’s a lot going on in this space, and it’s wild that there’s real value in things called PancakeSwap; but there’s hundreds and millions of dollars in this realm,” said Archer.
“While we won’t be accepting cryptocurrency as payment yet, we’ll definitely be putting out a variety of NFT-inspired beers in the future. The best part of NFT’s is the return market for the artists that make them.”
In an age where artists are constantly being pirated, or in the current COVID-culture where artists aren’t even able to work in a live setting, perhaps Whistle Buoy’s on to something.
If you’d like to purchase the beer go to Whistle Buoy’s website here, and if you’re interested in the artwork, you have until June 4th to bid here for your chance to receive the first ever crypto beer!
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