Ichiro's Malt Card Series: The Jokers

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

Today, at the Chichibu Whisky Matsuri, Ichiro Akuto revealed details of the long-awaited Jokers that will, finally, bring the iconic Hanyu Card Series to an end. People attending Akuto-san’s seminar also had the chance to try both Jokers. That’s right, there will be two: one in colour and one in black-and-white. The one in colour is a sort of omnibus release: it’s a vatting of casks from several vintages (1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991 and 2000) and different cask types (sherry butt, puncheon, ex-cognac, hogshead, ex-madeira, ex-bourbon and chibidaru). It’s bottled at 57.7%abv and there will be 3,640 bottles of this. Should be enough to go around. The same thing cannot be said of the monochrome Joker. That will be a single cask (#1024) from the 1985 vintage finished in a mizunara hogshead. Bottled at 54.9%abv, the outturn here is a mere 241 bottles, so that will be a mad scramble for crumbs when it is released – being an old Hanyu, the last Card and a mizunara release. That's all we know for now - nothing has been said about a release date and/or pricing - but we'll keep you posted and inform you of further details when they reach our HQ.

Update: Read here our review of the Colour Joker.