La Guilde du Chardon × Benjamin Kuentz
Thirty-two strangers.
One whisky.
On 7 July 2025, La Guilde du Chardon did not exist. On 24 January 2026, it created its first whisky with one of France's most respected whisky creators. Six months and seventeen days. Here is the bottle.
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We filmed it. Watch it rather than take our word for it.
24 January 2026, Paris. Twelve members of La Guilde du Chardon in Benjamin Kuentz’s showroom. That day, the Cuvée Fondateurs was still only an idea.
This whisky should never have existed.
A community less than a year old does not get an established French whisky creator to compose a cuvée for it. That is not how the market works. And yet, this is how it happened.
One man, one idea, zero members.
Hervé Chevalley, a lawyer by training with a passion for Scotland, launches La Guilde du Chardon with one conviction: whisky is a pretext, people remain at the heart of it. Not a club where you are judged on your palate. A circle where the expert shares and the curious contribute.
At that point, the stated goal is a community distillery. Hervé honestly puts it at least 10 years away.
The sentence that started it all.
Hervé runs into Benjamin Kuentz in the aisles of the show. They hit it off. A few weeks later, he writes to ask for a hand with a small Christmas gesture from La Guilde — a little something for the members, nothing more.
‘I have something much better to suggest: what if you made your own whisky, with me?’Benjamin Kuentz
Twelve people around a table.
Twelve members make the journey to the Maison Benjamin Kuentz showroom. Many are meeting in person for the first time. They spend the day nosing, tasting and debating, before voting on the direction their whisky should take: its profile, structure, character and strength.
Benjamin takes note of everything. He provides the science. They provide the direction.
Two recipes. Just one bottle.
Benjamin returns with two blends. La Guilde arranges for samples to be sent to its thirty-one members at the time, in France and Switzerland. That evening, everyone opens their vial at the same time, live, with Benjamin.
The verdict is almost unanimous: N°1. Clearer, more focused, more elegant. N°2 is not discarded — it is set aside for a future cuvée.
Wine and spirits merchants, sommeliers, bankers and brewers.
Wine and spirits merchants, sommeliers, entrepreneurs, managers, office workers, bankers, hospitality professionals, brewers and many other people make up La Guilde. They are between thirty and fifty years old. They live in France and Switzerland. Most of them did not know one another a year ago.
There was no selection process, no sponsorship and no committee. They came through a video, a WhatsApp group or a friend. The only requirement for joining: wanting to get involved rather than simply watch.
The twelve points of the thistle evoke the twelve Knights of the Round Table. All equal among themselves. It was more than just a pretty idea for a logo.
La Guilde outsources nothing.
Everything La Guilde does is driven by its members. Not by service providers. By the skills and contacts of people who wanted to make it happen.
The label
Designed by the second member to join La Guilde. A graphic designer by profession. He did not respond to a tender, he put his hand up. Thank you, Gaëtan.
Logistics
A member made a base in France available. The bottles bound for France will be dispatched from there — not from some anonymous warehouse. Thank you, Didier.
The gatherings
Whisky Live Paris, Whisky Lodge in Lyon, Lyon Whisky Festival, Whiskyschiff, a masterclass in Lausanne. Organised, promoted and filled by the members. Thank you, Jérémy, Jean-Pierre, Adrien and Lisa.
They voted. Their names remain.
Thirty-two first names are printed on every bottle of Cuvée Fondateurs. They belong to those who helped create it.
Two casks. The second is rare.
Most French whiskies spend time in one cask, sometimes two, almost always the same ones. Cuvée Fondateurs takes a different path — and the tasters recognised that path on the nose before it had even been explained to them.
Ex-Cognac cask
Cognac casks are still rarely used for whisky. They do not overpower it with wood: they bring body, candied fruit and a roundness that carries the whole without overwhelming it.
Ex-Chablis cask from Château de Béru
This is the signature. Château de Béru is one of the most respected estates in Chablis, practising biodynamics on Kimmeridgian terroirs. The cask imparts flinty minerality, pronounced salinity and an almost milky, honeyed quality. One member who owns nearly 300 bottles did not have this finish in his cellar.
What thirty-two people approved.
Colour
Pale yellow, almost straw-coloured.
Nose
Three registers that unfold over time and become increasingly indulgent as the whisky breathes.
Mineral — flint, gunflint, earth, an iodine note, light smoke providing structure.
Yellow and white fruits — roasted, buttery peach, apricot, poached plum, cherry and mirabelle plum, over a bouquet of white flowers.
Indulgent and creamy — honey, honeyed muesli, a buttery, almost creamy quality: the hallmark of a fine Chablis.
Sweet spices — vanilla, cardamom, a hint of cinnamon, liquorice.
Palate
A saline, rich opening, yet with enough tension to remain balanced. This saline tension, intended by Benjamin Kuentz, makes the whisky mouth-watering. Indulgent, complex and clearly defined: pear and white peach return.
Finish
Long and persistent, driven by an aromatic density that invites you to prolong it rather than wash it away.
Sliders
Light bitterness · light acidity · no to light astringency.
What we reveal. And what we keep to ourselves.
| Style | Blend of French whiskies |
| Creator | Benjamin Kuentz, curator of French whisky, and La Guilde du Chardon, an ambitious whisky gentlemen’s club. |
| Origin | France — a blend from several renowned distilleries |
| Maturation | Initially matured in an ex-Cognac cask, then finished in an ex-Chablis cask from Château de Béru |
| Strength | 45 % vol. |
| Age | NAS — no age statement |
| Format | 70 cl bottle |
| Release | 600 bottles |
The distilleries and exact proportions of the blend remain among the members of La Guilde du Chardon. They are the ones who voted for them, and they belong to them. Join La Guilde du Chardon to find out.
This is not a bottle.
It is the foundation stone.
La Guilde du Chardon does not want to become a whisky brand. It wants to become an independent bottler, then a distillery. A distillery that would belong to its community — not to an investment fund.
La Cuvée Fondateurs is the first tangible step on this journey. It proves that thirty-two people who did not know one another can create something real. Everything else follows from it.
Those who join us today will never be spectators.Hervé Chevalley, founder
The words are not ours.
Excerpts from feedback sent to La Guilde du Chardon after the tasting on 12 June.
« I don’t have this Chablis cask finish in my collection of nearly 300 bottles. »
« I consider myself a discerning enthusiast — I find what I’m looking for in it. »
« I’m a beginner, and it won me over completely. The people around me felt the same. »
It holds its own from the first glass through to dessert.
A versatile profile: served slightly chilled to begin with, it works equally well with a starter or a dessert. The members’ suggestions:
600 bottles.
Be the first to know.
La Cuvée Fondateurs is not on sale yet. Leave your email address: you will receive a message on the day it becomes available, before the public announcement.
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What you want to know.
When will it be available to buy?
Soon. La Guilde du Chardon is currently being incorporated as a company, and sales will open once this is complete. The release is limited to 600 bottles, with no restock. People on the list will be notified first.
Why don’t you say which distilleries it comes from?
We name the casks because they shape the whisky’s character and we are proud of them. We do not name the distilleries or the proportions because the members voted for this blend and that information belongs to them first and foremost. This is not posturing: the information is shared within La Guilde du Chardon, not outside it.
A Cognac cask followed by a Chablis cask: is that common?
No. Cognac casks are still rarely used for whisky, and finishing in a Chablis cask is uncommon — all the more so when it comes from Château de Béru, one of the appellation’s most respected estates. This double maturation creates the flinty minerality and salinity apparent from the first nosing.
What did the members actually do?
They voted on the direction of the whisky on 24 January 2026 — its profile, character and strength — then chose between the two proposed blends on 12 June. Benjamin Kuentz created the composition: that is his profession and his expertise. The label was designed by a member who is a graphic designer.
Where will it be delivered?
In France and Switzerland. La Guilde du Chardon has a logistics base in each country — the one in France is provided by a member — so there is no customs clearance.
I’m new to whisky. Is it for me?
Yes. This is the point the tasters emphasised most: the aromas can be identified without jargon. A female beginner gave it her unreserved approval during the group tasting.
I already know whisky well. Is it worth it?
If it is not for you, it is not for you. But a member who owns nearly 300 bottles noted that this Chablis finish was missing from his collection. And the saline tension on the opening is no accident: it is a deliberate choice by the creator.
Do I have to be 18?
Yes. Sales will be strictly limited to people aged 18 and over. Proof of age may be requested when ordering and upon delivery.
A final word
No one expected them.
They made a whisky.
Thirty-two first names on a label, 600 bottles, and the beginning of a much longer story. The next one may bear yours.
Notify me when it is released Calices Juncti, Cordae Apertae — glasses united, hearts open.