Hanyu Distillery

羽生蒸留所 / Hanyu Jōryū-sho

To see somebody tipping away a whisky is a sight almost too painful for any enthusiast to bear. For Ichiro Akuto, it was a step too far and proved to be the saviour of one of the oldest names in Japanese distillation, Hanyu. Stretching as far back as the 17^th century, The Akuto family were successful producers of Sake, who also began to distil spirits in the mid 1940s. They make their first serious forays into whisky distillation in 1980, but the long maturation of the spirit meant that the financial outlay would prove too costly to continue. The distillery was closed in 2004 and some 400 casks of priceless whisky were to be…horror of horrors…discarded. Fortunately, Akuto, the Grandson of one of the original owners of the Hanyu distillery managed to salvage the stock, in the process setting up his own brand new whisky company. Under the name of ‘Ichiro’s Malt’, he began releasing a stunningly original range of bottlings using a playing card theme for the labels. Now available in frighteningly limited numbers and representing the differing ages, styles and finishes of the casks, the flagships of these bottlings are the King Of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts and the Two Of Clubs. Now… how’s that for a hand of cards? Ever the pioneer, Ichiro was also playing a blinder with his other hand- creating the now legendary blended (and highly sought after) Japanese whisky – Ginkgo