Hanyu is a lesser-known, silent Japanese whisky distillery that has become highly coveted since its closure and bottling as part of Ichiro’s much-lauded Card series.
The Hanyu distillery, located on the Tone river in the city of the same name, was founded in 1941 by 19th-generation sake brewer Isouji Akuto. Despite owning the site for decades, the Akuto family didn’t install pot stills and start producing whisky in the Scottish tradition until the late 1980s. The first Hanyu single malt was bottled in 1985.
Sadly, production was short-lived and the so-called “golden horse” distillery closed in 2000 and was dismantled in 2004.
When Hanyu closed, the Akuto family was unable to find a buyer for the remaining stocks. Fortunately for whisky lovers, Isouji’s grandson, Ichiro, took the remaining 400 casks and prevented them from being poured down the drain. From 2005 to 2014, Ichiro released bottlings from his now-infamous Card series, in groups of four. The quartet releases built in popularity throughout this time until the final sets became astoundingly collectable. A complete Ichiro’s Card series, consisting of 54 bottles, including the jokers, sold for US$1.52 million in 2020.
Since its closure, and the popularity of Ichiro’s Card series and his new distillery Chichibu, whiskies from Hanyu have become highly sought-after. Liquid from the distillery is genuinely scarce. There were only ever six single malt vintages (1985, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991 and 2000), as no whisky was produced between 1991 and 2000. Most single-cask bottlings are drawn from the 2000 vintage, which Ichiro was involved in producing.
In 2005, Ichiro released the first private Hanyu bottling. These 12 bottlings from cask #7003 are some of the rarest on the market. In 2008, Ichiro bottled the remainder of the cask under the “Queen of Clubs” label.
Since 2000, rumours have swirled that the Hanyu distillery will be brought back to life.
