Hanyu 20 Years Old

Hanyu 20 Years Old is a single malt from the closed Hanyu distillery in Saitama Prefecture, distilled by Toa Shuzo and bottled in 2004 by Ichiro Akuto from the stocks he rescued after the distillery's closure in 2000. Released to the Japanese domestic market in a 720ml format at 46%, this is a vatted rather than single cask expression, blending together casks from the same distillery.

Matured in Ex-Bourbon casks over 20 years, the profile at this age and proof would sit in the measured, honeyed register typical of Hanyu's lighter house character: vanilla, gentle cereal and the soft fruit notes that bourbon oak encourages in malt spirit over extended ageing. At 46% and without cask strength intensity, this was designed for the domestic Japanese palate and represents a more restrained face of the Hanyu catalogue.