Announced last month, the Hanyu Japanese whisky collection consisting of 54 bottles reached a record high of 7.19 million Hong Kong Dollars ($917,000), Bonhams said.
The auction with the world’s most expensive collection of Japanese whisky includes 54 bottles from Japanese distillery Hanyu. These bottles are part of the world-renowned Hanyu Ichiro Full Card Series. An added value to this collection is the fact that the Japanese distillery stopped production in 2000.
Last Friday the auction celebrated at Bonhams Hong Kong found its new owner, an Asian female collector. The whisky collection was fetched in 2015 during a past Bonhams auction, and the price was set to 3.80 million Hong Kong Dollars. Today, the value of these bottles nearly doubled the first value.
Hanyu Scotch Malt-style whisky is found in these 54 bottles, each representing a set of cards. Isouji Akuto’s grandson, Ichiro Akuto, preserved 400 barrels of premium whisky before the distillery closed. In fact, Ichiro bottled each for release between 2005 and 2014.
Ichiro Akuto, president of the distillery hopes that the whisky will be consumed. « I will be glad if they are consumed », he said, stating that he was shocked to hear the price of the bottles and that he was anxious to know if the whisky would be tasted with satisfaction after such price.
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