Sometime about fourteen thousand years ago, some of our distant ancestors decided to stop their maverick life of hunting and gathering and settle down to grow barley, lentils and peas- becoming the first farmers. Although it would still take several thousand years, agriculture was the backbone on which civilizations would be built as it allowed for not all people to be involved in the gathering of food. However, a question which has long puzzled academics is what exactly sparked our ancestors to begin farming? Early agriculture was back-breaking work, and many early civilizations experienced severe flooding which, while necessary for fertile soil, could be volatile and inhospitable. There are as many theories as to why humans decided to take up agriculture, for instance; conflict, shelter and a human need for stability- but none are quite as fun as that espoused by archaeologist Patrick McGovern. McGovern believes that it was alcohol that provided that initial spark to begin farming and create civilization. As alcohol provided a much needed relief from the toilsome slog of early human life, and that motivated humans to begin farming and eventually create civilization. From this perspective, the Web3 community is well on its way to creating civilization, with alcohol based NFTs and culture becoming increasingly pervasive.
Brands like Glenfiddich, Bacardi and Budlight have already begun to embrace web3 and release their own lines of NFTs. Many branded beverage NFTs are connected to real life drinks, these are often connected to high end brands to make the cost worthwhile, as is the case with Moet Hennesy and Cellarverse. Cellaverse is the first metaverse winery which has given every bottle of the specially made wines an NFT. When buying a wine you will get an NFT corresponding to a specific bottle which they can redeem at any time they want, getting the bottle delivered straight to their door when they do. This combines the feeling of owning a rare bottle with owning a rare NFTs, with the NFTs also making the asset a work of art.
Bars are an epicentre of social interaction, a place where the normal rules of social interaction are relaxed to allow for more free flowing conversation and merriment. Many metaverse platforms have sought to co-opt the bar atmosphere to the metaverse, seeing it as a means of creating an online social space which will help make the metaverse feel more like the real world. However, key to the bar atmosphere is alcohol- and you cannot drink lines of code. NFTs though are already integrated to the metaverse and can help to replicate the social function that alcohol serves through brand names and associations.
So is the early forays of alcohol brands into NFTs a sign of the metaverse building its own nascent civilization? Definitely not. However, alcohol brands succeeding in the metaverse and having successful NFTs could be a real indication that the Metaverse is becoming a functional social space, and therefore that Web3 and the metaverse are gaining widespread adoption. Alcohol plays an important role in human life, and brewers and distillers are some of the largest brands in the world. Clearly the metaverse wants bars to work and alcohol brands want it too- so expect to see more brands entering the NFT space in the near future. Team Stratisphere will be sure to look out for how alcohol brands and social spaces develop in Web3 and the metaverse.