SINCE 2007

Based in the city of Hanyu in Japan’s Saitama prefecture, the legendary Japanese whisky brand Hanyu sold blends made from grain whisky produced on its own continuous stills and imported malt whisky from Scotland in 40s, But in 1980, with the introduction of pot stills, Hanyu began producing its own malt whisky which continued until 2000.

They stopped distilling whisky during a period of plummeting whisky consumption in Japan, The original Hanyu distillery was dismantled in 2004, and its remaining whisky stocks sold off to Hinode Holdings, Enter Ichiro Akuto, grandson of Hanyu founder Isouji Akuto who witnessed the sale while working for Yamazaki at the time, and decided the precious whisky must be saved.

Akuto managed to acquire not only some of Hanyu’s equipment, but also its remaining 400 casks of malt whisky, which would result in the release of the Ichiro’s Malt Card Series a profitable move that helped him fund his new distillery, Chichibu, Hanyu distillery will be revived in 2021, Toa Shuzo owner of brand Hanyu has announced plans to rebuild the distillery, which closed two decades ago.

The two Joker's released in 2014 completed the 54 bottle series, one in colour and one in black and white. This particular bottling is the Colour Joker, a vatting of 14 casks covering vintages from 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991 and 2000. The casks used for this final bottling include a sherry butt, puncheon, hogshead, Cognac, chibidaru, Madeira hogshead and bourbon.

700ml/57,7%