A lot has happened in Japan in the past couple of weeks, with some good news and some very sad news indeed. Today, we’re kicking-off a monthly whisky news series, where we’ll be giving you a brief round up of everything that has been going on, so that you can keep up to date with […]
Category Archives: Hanyu
Whisky – the final edition is the latest book from Swedish whisky expert and Keeper of the Quaich, Ulf Buxrud. It details the story behind the most expensive Japanese whisky collection of all time – The Ichiro’s Malt Card Series. Everyone familiar with Japanese whisky will surely have heard of this legendary series of bottlings […]
Since the recent announcement from Japanese whisky and sake producer, Toa Shuzo, that they will be reopening the legendary Hanyu distillery in 2021, I have been asked by a number of friends and industry colleagues about what this means for the industry; will the new whisky be the same, and how will it affect prices […]
Since the beginning of the Japanese whisky boom of the early 2000s, expressions from distilleries around Japan have been attracting millions of thirsty consumers around the globe. The delicate, perfectly balanced characteristics of whiskies from The Land of the Rising Sun have offered new horizons for aficionados to explore, along with new distillery stories to […]
In 2019, we saw the Ichiro’s Malt Card Series break records at Bonhams HK to become the most expensive single lot of Japanese whisky of all time. Now, 2020 will see another iconic bottling go to auction, as the oldest ever Japanese whisky is set to go on sale at the same auction house tomorrow, […]
It’s Day 8 of our 10 day dekanta anniversary countdown, and today we’re honouring one of Japan’s fastest rising brands and distilleries. Yesterday, we looked at Yamazaki (if you missed that you can catch up right here), and we hope you all grabbed yourself a nice bottle at a discounted price. Today, we’re looking at […]
Today we saw a busy day of whisky auctioning at Bonhams Hong Kong and it was a huge day for Japanese whisky, as the Ichiro’s Malt Full Card Series broke the world record for the most valuable Japanese whisky collection ever to go at auction, fetching a whopping $7,192,000 (US$0.92m). The Full Card Series broke […]
The Ichiro’s Malt Card Series is one of the rarest, most sought after collections in world whisky. Inspired by a deck of playing cards, it is made up of 54 different expressions, with each and every card represented, including the Jokers. Independent bottler, Ichiro’s Malt, was setup by Ichiro Akuto after the family business, founded […]
Since the Japanese whisky boom of the early 2000s, the trajectory of growth within the industry has been similar to that of a Space-X shuttle being shot towards the edge of the earth’s atmosphere. While the shuttle has continued on its upward course, soaring into outer space and making it halfway to colonising Mars, the […]
It’s fairly obvious that the best place to drink Japanese whisky is in Japan, whether you’re at The Door in Kyoto, or Zoetrope in the Nishi-Shinjuku area of Tokyo, or the tasting room at the Yamazaki distillery, to name just three. But what about Japanese whisky aficionados who don’t happen to live there, and can’t […]