
The Hanyu card series was released between 2005 and 2014 from a highly limited stock of the closed Hanyu distillery. Bonhams have listed a 54 bottle collection that includes 13 of each of the hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs bottles as well as two jokers. On sale between November 12 to 19 2024 and with an estimate of $766,000 to $1.3 Million (€700,000 to €1,200,000) every bottle in this collection has been signed by Ichiro Akuto and represents some of the rarest single malt Japanese whiskies..
The Hanyu Distillery
In 1980 the Hanyu distillery began producing single malt whisky in the traditional scotch whisky style. They had been distilling grain whisky at Hanyu since 1946 but the shift did not come at a good time for the distillery. Under less than optimal whisky market conditions the Hanyu distillery persevered until 2000, and was finally sold in 2004.
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The purchaser, a sake producer, was not interested in the 400 remaining barrels of Hanyu single malt—except reportedly to turn it into Japanese Shochu. In stepped the titular Ichiro, who purchased the casks back.
In 2005 Ichiro released a small market test of four bottles, each strikingly adorned with a traditional playing card motif. The successful reception of these four whiskies would mark the start of the Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt Playing Card series, one of the most exciting whisky collections available today. The dramatic global shift in the secondary whisky market has seen some Japanese whisky become highly sought after, and the Card series is no exception.
A Complete Set
Part of the appeal of the Hanyu Card Series is the collectability of the releases. It’s a similar effect to why the Macallan 18 year olds and Anniversary Malts are so appealing; you can aim to get one of each and it will create a striking display for any collection. With the card series you have that set mentality, alongside the sheer spread of bottles and the high renown that many of the whiskies are held in. According to Ulf Buxrud The average tasting score for the bottles is 87, with a high of 93 and a low of 79.
Bonhams have for sale a full 54 bottle set in the traditional sense of one of each card type in a traditional deck all signed by the collection’s founder Ichiro Akuto. A truly complete set would technically be 58 bottles as there are two versions of the jack of clubs, queen of hearts, king of diamonds and ace of spades. Those were the four precursor bottles released as market tests in 2006. The highly limited numbers of the initial release (between 122 and 125 of each) combined with the reportedly high consumption numbers for those bottles, means that the 58 bottle collection is almost impossible to create (there are reportedly four!).
Spin Off Bottles
As if the difficulty of the 58 bottle collection was not enough, for keen whisky collectors there are additional bottles that were drawn from Ichiro’s collection of casks and released under different labels for special events/ private requests. This all adds allure for seasoned collectors. For full details of each release in the series, and the spinoff bottles, Hanyu fans can refer to Ulf Buxrud’s book Whisky – The Final Edition.
Hanyu Distillery Reborn?
As well as the card series there are other notable releases from the Hanyu distillery, many of which have become sought after collectors items. These bottles may soon be joined by new releases. In 2021 Toa Shuzo, the company that bought Hanyu in 2004, once again resumed production of whisky at the Hanyu distillery. With replica stills built from original drawings of the old stills, and made by the same manufacturer, the company are looking to faithfully replicate the Hanyu spirit. So, if your budget doesn’t stretch to $1.3million for the Card Series collection then you may soon have other options.