Japanese Whisky Featuring Hanyu Ichiro’s Full Card Series

Later this month, Bonhams is auctioning off some rare Whisky in Hong Kong. Normally, I sit out foreign auctions and whisky auctions, but there are so many tempting lots in this auction, I had to revisit my previous ultimatums.

In this Bonhams’ Japanese Whisky Auction August 2015, Bonhams is offering 386 lots from over 30 consigners. Most of the sale is Japanese Whisky, as you might take from the title of the auction (Japanese Whisky Featuring Hanyu Ichiro’s Full Card Series).

Some of these whiskies are going for outrageous prices. Sure, you could say it is a bubble, but why are these whiskies going for so much money when you can buy a bottle for under $USD 100 at the store. Some of these prized whiskies are from distilleries which no longer exist. Simply put, these will not be made ever again. Collectors begin to go insane and in truth, the quality of this juice is very, very high. Gathering information about these distilleries can be difficult as they are in Japan and many of them are defunct. Here is a summary of what I have found on them and what lots I think are interesting here in the auction.

Hanyu was made by the Akuto family which is reported to have a 300-400 year old history of producing sake before they opened a whisky distillery in 1941. The distillery was located northwest of Toyko in the Saitama Prefecture in in the city of Hanyu. The river for the distillery came from the Tone. It took 5 years to get the license, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that they began to be serious about single malt whisky and purchased 2 Scotish stills. In the 2000, Isouji Akuto (19th generation of the family) decided to stop producing whisky and in 2004 he sold the company. The stills were destroyed and the new owners had no interest in selling the remaining whisky. Isouji’s son, Ichiro purchased 400 casks from the distillery and sold many of them under different Ichiro’s Choice.

Much of what we see marketed as Ichiro’s Malt or Hanyu comes from this distillery. Ichiro recently opened a new distillery in Chichibu, but the stills are not from Hanyu. It is in the same area as the old Hanyu Distillery and is being marketed as Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu, but this is not from the famed Hanyu Distillery.

Some other details I want to include here are that at Chichibu, Ichiro is using both American and Japanese oak and the cooper for his barrels is Mitsuo Saito. The barley is currently being imported from Scotland and is done with a floor malting, not machine malting. In the future, they plan to use local barley. These are very interesting whiskies, but they do not appear in this auction.

Many people have written about Ichiro’s card series. You can do a few quick searches and find some interesting articles about them. I think these will get too expensive and there will be a lot of action over them. I will try to avoid bidding on any of those lots.

Lot 83 (Hanyu-Full Proof 1988-2009-#9306) –  This one of the best whisky labels of all time. This bottle is known as Big Butt for the sumo wrestler’s large butt right on the label. This is highly collectible and only 200 were ever released. This was bottled for Full Proof Europe, an independent distributor known for their risque labels. These were initially sold for 130 euros back in 2009. I include lot 84 with it as it was also released at the same time by Full Proof for 130 euros as well.

Lot 85 (Hanyu-Full Proof Holland-1988-2006-#9204) – Also Hanyu from Full Proof, but there is something interesting about this. The name of this is Pancheon, which is actually a typo. It should read Puncheon. A pipe or a butt is 126 gallons. a Puncheon is 84 gallons, a hogshead is 63 gallons, and a barrel is 31.5 gallons. When this was first ordered by Full Proof, no one noticed the typo. They ordered half of the cask and bottled it with the typo. Upon the second releasing, they fixed the typo and started the numbering over from 1. This can cause some confusion with this bottle, and it definitely pays to check out the provenance of what you think is this Hanyu bottle.

Lot 188 (Hanyu-2000-Bar Keller-#1702) – Despite the aggressive estimate on this lot, I think it is quite interesting. You do not often see grappa finish whiskies. That in combination with it being from Hanyu make it quite a catch. Bid with caution.

Lot 189 (Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt-5 of Hearts) – As we saw above with the ex-grappa cask, this one is ex-cognac. We should definitely watch this bottle. Again, cognac finishes are rare enough that we want to pay special attention to this lot. Lot 194 is also an cognac finish.

Lot 195 (Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt-Q of Spades) – There are not enough wonderful things to say about port finish whiskies. I love these exotic finishes. This is yet another fantastic lot to watch.

Unless you really know what you’re doing, I would avoid bidding on the Hanyu Card Series. These are incredibly hyped and so well marketed. Many people will be here just to bid on those. Do not get caught up in a bidding war on an object that holds some sentimental value to someone else.

The other jewel of Japanese Whiskys is undoubtably Karuizawa. Karuizawa was one of the three distilleries owned by the Mercian Company. Located on Mount Asama (an active volcano and the distillery’s water source), Karuizawa was opened in 1956 and produced single malt scotch using Golden Promise barely shipped from Simpson’s of Berwick in Scotland. The distillery had four copper stills and were famous for their use of high quality sherry barrels. The first single malt was bottled in 1987; before then, the whisky was used for blending. The distillery was shut down in 2001, but hope emerged when it was purchased by Kirin in 2006. Nothing came of this acquisition, but then in 2011 the remaining stocks were acquired by Number One Drinks. It has been reported that Ichiro Akuto bought a significant number of casks, but I have only found a few releases from him: the 1983 Sherry Influence and 1994’s Golden Promise. He may have bought more casks and has yet to release them, I am not certain.

The NOH bottling is very interesting. These are single casks from the stocks. I’m not certain on the origin of all of them, but I know that #869 and #8775 were bottled exclusively for K&L Wine Merchants. I personally find these very interesting as they are the only release of Karuizawa in the US to this date.  The whisky is very high quality and every expression is unique.

Lot 26 (Karuizawa-1981-#7982-Fuji) – Expensive, but for what it is, the estimate is spot on. 1981 is one of the finest vintages for Karuizawa. Even at the high end of the estimate, this is a good buy for the capable whisky aficionado. As expected, this is a classic Karuizawa from a sherry butt. Bottled in 2012, this is a 31 year old single cask release. It was released for Whisky Magazine. Definitely watch this if you can afford it.

Lot 29 (Karuizawa-1995-16 year old-#5022) – This is from the rouge cask series. This is an interesting bottling. nine casks were bottled between 2007 and 2011, right before the remaining stock was purchased by Number One Drinks. These are from ex-red wine barrels and spent their entire life in those barrels. They were available only at the distillery shop for tourists and getting them is quite difficult. They were priced modestly at 4,000 yen each. Many of the bottles were likely opened and there are not many remaining. They bottled a few hundred at a time, so you will see bottles with the same cask number, but different bottling dates. One thing to note is that the wax will break over time and you will be forced to open it.

Lot 34 (Karuizawa-1981-#152) – Another release from 1981, that legendary vintage. This was bottled after the stock acquisition by Number One Drinks. Definitely a lot to watch.

Lot 42 (Karuizawa-1995-13 year old-#5007-Noh) -This bottle is interesting when we consider it next to lot 29. Both are red wine casks. In fact, if you see a cask numbered #5XXX, it is a red wine cask from Karuizawa. This is one of the casks bottled before the acquisition, but it was for a different market. These NOH bottles are very collectable and you see that in the price. I prefer the NOH whiskeys with this style of stopper as they are a bit higher quality than their wax brethren.

Lot 48 (Karuizawa-1981-31 year old-#8775-Noh) – One of the two bottlings of Karuizawa that was imported to the US. It was this cask and cask #869. This is from the legendary 1981 vintage and was selected by David Driscoll and David Othenin-Girard of K&L Wines. These very smart men were able to import these two bottles. They sold out almost instantly.

Lot 78 (Karuizawa-1981-#6370-Fire Dragon) – Another 1981 sherry cask. It may seem that there is a lot more of this on the market, but the reason for that is that almost everyone who is able to select a cask to bottle picks an 1981 sherry cask. Sherry casks were the bread and butter of Karuizawa and with good reason. These are the essence of this distillery.

Lot 320 (Karuizawa-1988-Dragons) – Blended Karuizawa for $260-400, sign me up. Yes, this is not a special bottling, but it is still rare. This is fun and priced well. What more is there to say, after all, I’ve written about Karuizawa already for one day.

Lot 321 (Karuizawa Ocean Bright Deluxe) – I love these bottles and think this would be fun. It’s priced decently and they all contain the original cartons. Another great lot. They are also for sale during lot 385.

Lot 322 (Karuizawa Ocean Blended) –  Not as good a deal as the previous two, but also worth watching.

Looking through all of these lots, you may wonder what is the difference between the NOH, the Geisha and the other single bottle releases from Karuizawa. I honestly have had a difficult time understanding, but I believe that it is just the label. Some labels seem to make better show pieces than others, so they do have a slight bump in collectibility.

Shinshu Mars is a distillery located in the Nagano Prefecture, owned by Hombu Shuzo. There is some inconsistent information online about the distillery, but here is what I can make of it. The maindistillery opened in 1985 on the island of Kyushu but production ceased for a few decades in 1992. Whisky made during that period was bottled under the Shinshu Mars and Kagoshima brands. There is another distillery nearby owned by Hombu called Komagate and it seems as if whisky made from that distillery is sold under that label. Production has resumed as of 2010, and they have refurbished their stills. You can currently buy Shinshu Mars Iwai Whisky for roughly $35 dollars. Iwai is named after Kiichiro Iwaii who was a company official at Suntory. He sent Masataka Takesturu to Scotland in 1918 and then received the report Takesturu created. He would eventually go on to help found the Kagoshima Distillery. The Shinshu plant is the highest distillery in Japan at 2600 feet above sea level.

In this auction, there are 5 lots of Shishu Mars, 5 lots of Komagatake in this auction.

Of the Shinshu Mars lots, I recommend the below.

Lot 9 (Komagatake-1988-#568) –  One of the oldest bottlings of Shishu Mars, this is a sherry cask from the distillery. This is definitely an interesting bottle if you can get it for the right price. It is a bit light for a sherry cask, but I do believe that it was not bottled at cask strength. There is also another bottle for sale at lot 18.

Lot 12 (Komagatake-1987-27 year old) – Another interesting bottle. Also from the Komagate distillery, this is even more limited. It is bottled in 700ml bottle as compared to the 720ml which you often see in Japan. This may have been bottled for the American market. This is an interesting lot for certain.

Lot 13 (Shinshu Mars – Karuizawa Club) –  This was bottled for the Karuizawa Club in Hotel Karuizawa. Make no mistake, this is not related to the distillery. Keep in mind, this is 3 bottles. I believe this was made for mixing at their bar. This is bottled at 39% ABV, quite a bit lower than many of the other Shinshus. This is one to buy and drink.

Nikka is yet another company in Japan. Headquartered in Tokyo, the company owns both the Yoichi Distillery and the Miyagikyo Distillery. They also own the Ben Nevis Distillery in Scotland. Founded by Masataka Takesturu in 1934, Nikka has a fantastic reputation and makes very high quality spirits. Just keep in mind, you can buy them new for a lot cheaper. For example, the Coffey Grain Whisky is made in the Miyagikyo Distillery, aged about ten years in refill bourbon casks and goes for a little under $USD 70 a bottle.

David Driscoll and David Othenin-Girard went to both Yoichi and Miyagikyo last year and took some great photos, I definitely recommend taking a look.

Ben Nevis is a Nikka property in Scotland. Purchased by Nikka in 1989, the distillery has been around since 1878 and sits at the base of the mountain with the same name. It draws its water from the Allt a’Mhuilinn which originates from two pools: Coire Leis and Coire na’Ciste. The distillery was founded by Long John MacDonald. Ben Nevis is Technically two distilleries, the Ben Nevis Distillery and the nearby Nevis Distillery.

There are 12 lots of Nikka , 3 lots of Ben Nevis, 3 lots of Yoichi, 2 lots of Taketsuru, and  5 lots of Miyagikyo in this auction.

Lot 374 (Nikka Whisky Ceramic Deer) – This is just crazy. How can you not love the level of tack here. The deer might even possibly be stoned here. This is a must have.

Lot 373 (Nikka Whisky Ceramic Crane) – And if the deer wasn’t crazy enough for you, why not have two cranes. You may never have the chance to buy a bottle like this ever again in your life.

Port Ellen is another legendary distillery. I will go into detail in another post, but it is closed as of 1983. They still provide maltings to other Islay distilleries, but do not produce whisky.

There are 28 lots of Port Ellen for sale in this auction. The estimates are pretty high on these, but I would look at all of them as the auction progresses. If something seems cheap, toss a bid in for it if you can. Port Ellen is very tough to get.

There are a many Suntory lots, but I won’t be recommending them today and it would overwhelm this post to get into Suntory. For note, they own the Yamazaki distillery. I’ll save it for another day.

17 Suntory lots in the auction and 24 Yamazaki lots.

Lot 381 (Yamazaki and Hibiki Instruments) – Well god damn. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. It makes the deer look positively tame. What is not to love about this.

Kawasaki was another one of the Mercian Company’s properties. It is not as hot as Karuizawa, but is still an interesting distillery. Built in the Kawasaki prefecture on the outskirts of Tokyo, it was primarily known for grain whisky. Some of the stocks were purchased by Ichiro Akuto and have been released under the Ichiro’s Choice brand.

Torys Blended Whisky is a Suntory product that I am going to single out for being interesting. Prior to 1963, Suntory was known as Kotobukiya. At that point, Suntory was a brand that Kotobukiya owned. During WWII, Kotobukiya shut down production due to shortages. In 1946, they opened production back up and released the Torys Blended Whisky. The bottle in this collection is from the 1980s. This bottle is cute, but if I were to be in the market for a Torys Blended Whisky, I would want it to be from 1946 or at least from the late 40s. To me, this is a pass.

All photos are from Bonhams.

Sources: Nonjatta, K&L Website and Mailing List, along with others, but those are my primary sources for much of the information here.