Hanyu 1988, cask #9307, is the bottling nicknamed Nice Butt: a single butt distilled in 1988 and bottled in 2008 at 55% for the Dutch retailer Full Proof, released under the Ichiro's Malt name. It yielded 534 bottles and comes from one of only a handful of Hanyu vintages.
About This Whisky
A butt is a large cask of roughly 475 to 500 litres, and this one held its spirit for about twenty years before bottling in 2008 at 55%. It was bottled for Full Proof in the Netherlands, with a companion cask, #9306, released the following year as Big Butt. The 534 bottles show the older, heavier face of Hanyu: plenty of polished wood and dried fruit, and a brandy-like depth.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Ginger cake, toasted oak and a brandy note of dried apricot, with a hint of smoke.
- Palate: Rich and resinous, with furniture polish, dark sugar, dates and roasted nuts.
- Finish: Very long and oak-driven, drying to walnut skin and bitter chocolate.
Serving & Food
Serve it neat at room temperature in a copita and give it time in the glass; two decades of wood take a while to unfold. Add water sparingly. Good company for roast duck with cherry sauce, an aged Gouda, or pecan tart.
How to Enjoy
Collectors of closed Japanese distilleries and tasters who enjoy old, oak-rich malt.
Product Details
Distillery: Hanyu
Vintage/bottling: 1988/2008
Cask: Butt #9307
Series/reference: Ichiro's Malt for Full Proof / Nice Butt
ABV: 55%
Outturn: 534 bottles
Volume: 700mL
Origin: Japan
Region: Saitama Prefecture, Japan
About the Distillery
The Akuto family have been making alcohol since the early seventeenth century, first as sake brewers in Chichibu. In 1941 they opened a second site in the town of Hanyu, took out a whisky licence in 1946 and launched a blend called Golden Horse. Real malt distilling only began in the early 1980s, when the company, Toa Shuzo, installed a small pair of pot stills.
The timing was poor. Japanese whisky sales went into a long decline soon afterwards, and Hanyu distilled only in a few scattered years before its stills fell silent.