This Brauerei Locher exclusive release has been produced in a limited and numbered edition of 60 bottles. It is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Karl Locher himself, who initiated this project. An outstanding single malt has been composed of the distillate of eight different exclusive casks, matured in the largest whisky cellar in Switzerland. The “Karl Locher’s 60th – Founder’s Anniversary Reserve” contains the first Swiss single malt whisky, which has been in-house distilled and matured in historic, 80- to 140-year-old beer casks. These have previously written brewing history and give the whiskey its distinctive flavor and color. The 60 whisky bottles are a personal statement by Karl Locher and tell the company and family history in their own authentic way.
BOTTLE AND IMAGE BELONG INSEPARABLY TOGETHER
“Innovation always starts in the mind with a bold idea and the courage to take risks. The idea for this limited edition arose in a conversation with Authena about novel technical possibilities of an NFT insert, in which real objects can be secured and inseparably encoded with virtual images. The picture accompanying the whisky shows an Appenzell landscape, where essential raw materials for the production of these exclusive whiskies come from,” says Karl Locher, owner of Brauerei Locher and founder of the renowned Säntis Malt. Karl Locher works with 40 Swiss farmers who grow malting barley at higher altitudes in Appenzell and Bündnerland (1100-1400 m.a.s.l.), which, along with spring water from the Alpstein, finds its use in the whisky.
THE FIRST SWISS WHISKY ON THE BLOCKCHAIN
The information about the respective whisky bottle can be accessed at any time by using a smartphone to read the physical digital NFC seal integrated into the bottle. At the heart of the system is Authena’s blockchain-based technology, which makes it virtually impossible to counterfeit exclusive bottles by sealing them with an NFC seal. As soon as the bottle is opened and thus the seal is damaged, a corresponding message appears the next time the NFC tag is read by any user via smartphone.
This technical solution offers the greatest security to the clientele and at the same time enables permanent interaction between the involved parties and the final product. “This new crypto technology promises a new level of security for top global products. Our blockchain-based technology combined with physical-digital seals make product counterfeiting economically non-scalable and therefore unprofitable worldwide,” says Matteo Panzavolta, CEO of Authena AG.
Each of the 60 whisky bottles belonging to the “Karl Locher’s 60 – Founder’s Anniversary Reserve” limited edition is backed with an NFT. In this specific case, the NFT is used to provide the proof of authenticity and ownership of 1/60th of the total 60-piece picture from Appenzell by Martin Fuchs.
