Released ahead of London Fashion Week, the second expression in Royal Salute’s Couture Collection is another collaboration with Richard Quinn, winner of Queen Elizabeth II’s inaugural Award for British Design in 2018. Quinn is fitting collaborator for a whisky brand that was itself launched in 1953 in honour of the Queen’s coronation.
Available at luxury retailers worldwide for an RRP of US$12,000, 200 decanters of the expression have been released. Decanter #1, which has been signed by Quinn, is available as an NFT on BlockBar.com, the world’s first direct-to-consumer NFT marketplace for wines and spirits. This makes House of Quinn the first fashion collaboration on the site.
Available to purchase with Ethereum (ETH) or fiat, the cryptographic version of the decanter will be held securely by BlockBar, with a record of authenticity held on the blockchain as a digital certificate of ownership. The buyer may choose to redeem the physical product and have it delivered from BlockBar’s secure storage facility, safely trade its NFT version within the BlockBar marketplace, keep the NFT their virtual bar, or gift it through BlockBar’s new gifting platform.
The House of Quinn by Richard Quinn is presented in decanters hand-blown from black Dartington crystal, each individually numbered and hand-painted with a floral pattern. The bottle has been designed by Richard Quinn to recall his bold and colourful collections, and is embellished with gold leaf.
Housed in a black box enhanced with tone-on-tone floral details, the set also includes a silk pocket square designed and printed by Quinn exclusively for Royal Salute. Taking inspiration from the bespoke floral print on the decanters, the pocket square sports a mix of blue and purple hues off-set with a white thorned border.
Commenting on his design for the House of Quinn by Richard Quinn, the designer said, “I’ve always had an admiration for outstanding shows of craft, and collaborating with Royal Salute on this second release in the Couture Collection has given me the opportunity to celebrate this. Combining so many different skills in one place to make something as beautiful as this edition, from the decanter to the silk pocket square and the blend itself, has been a dream for me.”
This expression’s new blend, created by Royal Salute master blender, Sandy Hyslop, combines malts from across Scotland, including some laid down in casks the birth year of Richard Quinn. The blend is described as delicately floral, with a lasting oakiness.
For more information, visit www.royalsalute.com.