So, as we know 4 of the final bottling’s in Ichiro’s Card Series Hanyu went on sale less than 2 months ago. Now as far as I know, none have made it to Europe or the UK for general retail sale yet, so current access is by auction. This morning a bottle of Ichiro`s Malt 2000 12YO Ace of Clubs sold for 605 Euros on whiskyauction.com. That’s right, 605 Euro’s! The other 3 bottling’s that were released at the same time were up for grabs as well, 2 of them fetching 280 Euro’s the other 264. The 2 that fetched 280 were respectively 21 and 22 years old and the one that reached 264 a 12 year old like the Ace of Clubs.
Why so much for the Ace of Clubs? There was a total outrun of 503 bottles so a fair amount for a single cask. It was finished in a Japanese Mizunara Oak Cask, so was that the reason? The whisky may have only spent months in this cask, so the full effect of Mizunara Oak on the whisky may hardly be felt. How do I know this? I have an open bottle of the 4 of Spades that was also finished in Japanese Oak and compared to something like the Yamazaki annual release fully matured in Misunara
there is quite a big difference in profile. Hanyu’s tend to have an aromatic/wood spice/incense profile anyway, so it’s even harder to tell where the Hanyu house style ends and the Mizunara starts. Also, I have not read a single review for the Ace of Clubs, so buyers are just grabbing these on spec.
The kicker, when they went on sale in Japan the Ace of Clubs sold for under $100 Australian! Maybe I’m the mad one, I didn’t buy a bottle!
The Japanese Whisky Review
By Dramtastic Est 2012
The same four bottles sold in a HK auction for HK22,610. That is $2,914 USD.
No according to Bonhams website it was 4 bottles of ‘Hangyu’ : )
Honestly though, if haven’t checked out the full auction price list you’ll see how silly these prices were. I’m not just talking about the Ichiro’s or Karuizawa. There were 2 bottles of Suntory(one lot) that you could buy in Japan for about $150 that sold for $1687 and the level of the liquid in the bottles looks like the seller has had 4 or 5 drams from each. One of those 2 I could buy for 10 bucks any day of the week. Plenty of ridiculous prices for various Scotches as well. The buyers were either ignorant or lazy.
http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20958/?list_grid_result=results#r1=422&b1=results&m1=1
That’s how it’s pronounced in Cantonese, man!
This price is indeed hard to understand. The only possible explanation that I can come up with is that a cards lover was making sure his collection was complete. Collectors can go to great lengths to achieve their dreams…
That is a good assumption, Pierre. We have all heard stories of people traveling from Europe directly to Chichibu to find “that” bottle they don’t have. But why would it be just the AOC and not for eaxample the SOP? An obsession with the actual suit perhaps? That and simply anything finished in Mizunara, as we have seen in the past makes people go crazy – regardless of how long it has been finished in the cask for.