THE BRAND Hanyu was founded by the grandfather of Ichiro Akuto in the 1940s, near Tokyo. In 1980, with the aim of beginning single malt production at the distillery, two pot stills were bought and installed in the distillery, but as the Japanese did not yet have a taste for blends, in 2000 the distillery was closed and finally, in 2004, demolished. Its stock, after spending some years in a sake brewery in the north of Japan, was then bought by Ichiro who created his own brand, “Ichiro’s Malt”, in 2005. The hundred-odd casks that still remain can now be found at Chichibu and are bottled under different labels, including the famous “Card Series” range.