Cognac brand owned by LVMH Hennessy is associating with Friends with benefits (FWB) DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) to launch an exclusive luxury web3 social club, coffee 11. Inspired by 1920s artist cafes in Paris, Café 11 aims to curate distinctive experiences around the world for members. Café 11 membership comes in the form of an NFT with bespoke digital artwork from John P Dessereaua New York-based artist and one of the 3,000 creatives in the FWB community.

This December’s Art Basel Miami Beach is home to the first Café 11 event. In addition to meeting other members, NFT holders will be able to partake in cognac tastings along with food and music experiences over several days. After the Basel event, NFT holders can access exclusive experiences internationally. From a strategic perspective, these events provide Hennessy with numerous opportunities to connect with customers and ultimately get them to buy some cognac.

The partnership builds on Hennessy’s 250-year legacy, with FWB’s goal of merging culture and cryptocurrency. It’s a great example of how FWB supports its community of artists.

On November 4, FWB will mint 1,765 Brown 11 NFTs, priced at $450. As one of the first NFT-powered luxury clubs, the benefits of the club are open in the web3 way. But with the Hennessy brand behind it, the barrier to entry is relatively low. That compares especially with an earlier NFT that Hennessy sold for two bottles of Hennessy-8 cognac priced at $226,450 each. That was in partnership with BlockBar, the alcohol NFT platform.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Hennessy partnered with luxury blockchain consortium Aura provide traceability for its spirits from distiller to customer as part of a sustainability drive.