The world of fine whiskeys has always had trouble from counterfeiters who make cheap knockoffs and try to pass their fake product off as the real deal. To help combat this problem, William Grant & Sons has decided to put its whiskey on a blockchain. William Grant & Sons encompasses some of the biggest names in the whiskey world, including Glenfiddich, Grants, Tullamore Dew, The Balvenie and Monkey Shoulder. On top of premium brand whiskeys William Grant & Sons will also secure the supply of Hendrick’s Gin, Drambuie and Sailor Jerry.
Securing the Supply Chain
It’s not the first-time brands have decided to implement blockchain technology to secure the supply chain of their products. Carico Cafe Connoisseur has started using blockchain technology to verify the authenticity of its beans, and William Grant & Sons will be using a similar technology. It will be teaming up with Arc-Net to store vital information about each bottle – such as cask type, filling date, blend type, and period of aging – which end consumers will be able to check before they buy a bottle. End consumers will then be able to discover information about each individual bottle before they take it home simply by scanning a unique QR code printed on the label.
Wine Heading to the Blockchain
It isn’t just top shelf whiskey hitting the blockchain, a number of Italian wine brands will also be getting their own blockchain. Ricci Curbastro, Ruffino Wines, and West Wind Wines have teamed up with VeChain to tag each bottle so end consumers can verify the authenticity of each bottle as well as get detailed information about each batch, such as how the grapes were grown, bottled, stored, the type of grape used, and the owner of the vineyard. It’s estimated that more than $100 million is lost in the UK’s wine and spirits industry due to counterfeiting, and blockchain technology is helping prevent this problem from escalating further.
It might be some time before you notice bottles from William Grant & Sons sporting the new blockchain QR codes thanks to the aging process. However, the first bottles will likely start rolling out towards the end of the year as systems are put in place for the next bottling run to be completely covered. Stock up on the old bottles, as they will one day become a collector’s item from a pre-blockchain world.
