Hanyu 1985 The Joker Card Series – Monochrome Label
This Japanese whisky comes from the now sadly defunct Hanyu distillery, which stopped distilling in 2000 and was dismantled in 2004. At the time Ichiro Akuto, the grandson of the founders of Hanyu distillery, decided to purchase the remaining stock and bottle it as the Cards series.
This is one of the last two Card series bottlings, released to complete the 54 bottle set: one Joker in colour and one in Black and White. This is the Black and White Joker, distilled in 1985 and bottled from a single cask. Bottle No.24.
Winning bid £7,100
Karuizawa Sherry Cask #5347, 30 Years Old
One of a pair of mirror-image labelled bottles released at The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show 2014. This is the sherry matured half of the duo.
Karuizawa was founded in 1955 and was Japan’s smallest whisky distillery. In 1959, they became the first distillery to export whisky overseas.
Karuizawa used the famous Golden Promise barley, which was peated, then the spirit was distilled in small batches and aged in the finest Spanish sherry casks to make some of the best whisky in the world.
Sadly, Karuizawa distillery stopped production in 2000 and closed for good in 2011.
Winning bid £3,700
This Macallan 30 Year Old is matured entirely in sherry oak casks. This was the last edition of the sherried 30yo before the introduction of the Fine Oak series, and also the last 30yo before Macallan revamped their bottle shape and packaging.
Winning bid £2,400
Yamazaki Sherry Cask, bottled 2013
The famous 2013 Yamazaki Single Cask, matured in ex-oloroso sherry casks. In his 2015 Whisky Bible, Jim Murray gave it a score 97.5 points out of 100, and named it his World Whisky of the Year.
Winning bid £1,400
An outstanding Highland Park, bottled at a remarkable 40 Year Old. It is presented in an extremely heavy box with proper hinges and magnetic closure, with a leather-bound booklet inside extolling the virtues of distillery and dram.
Winning bid £1,350
Pappy Van Winkle’s 23 Years Old
This bottling honours Julian ‘Pappy’ Van Winkle, who was the first of the family to enter the distilling industry. Bottle # E-5831
Winning bid £1,200
A sherry butt of Ardbeg from the legendary 1976 batch, this rare whisky was bottled for the Feis Ile in 2004. Bottle, No.397.
Winning bid £900
