Holding all the cards

After being dealt a bad hand during the financial crash, Ichiro Akuto rescued his family whisky distillery with his Playing Card Series, says Matthew Wilcox. Now Akuto has all the aces

In a deck of cards lies a paradox – a mathematical riddle that fascinated 20th-century mathematicians. Each shuffle reveals an arrangement never seen before and one that will never occur again: a composition that only exists in a single moment.

The idea of the 'infinite shuffle' finds an unexpected mirror in the world of Japanese whisky, in the story of Ichiro Akuto and his celebrated Playing Card Series – an almost impossibly rare complete set of 54 whisky bottles – each one signed by Akuto himself – which are offered at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, in an online sale.

“Surrounded by the aroma of malt and oak and the hum of machinery, it became clear how deeply Akuto cared about every detail of his craft”

I visited Akuto at his new distillery in Chichibu, a tiny green valley tucked away in the mountains northwest of Tokyo. Walking through the distillery with him, surrounded by the aroma of malt and oak and the hum of machinery, it became clear how deeply he cared about every detail of his craft. The building itself was understated, blending into the landscape, but it held an atmosphere of quiet reverence – a place where tradition met experimentation – it’s a theme that connects Akuto’s venture with the Playing Card Series that made his name. 

Standing in the modest warehouse among rows of barrels, still in shock from the explosive rise of Japanese whisky and the record-breaking prices his bottles have come to fetch at auction, Akuto reflected on his journey. “It was astonishing,” he said, his face a mix of pride and disbelief.

The path to Chichibu’s success has been anything but straightforward. For decades, Akuto’s family had been making spirits, with their Hanyu Distillery steadily building a reputation since 1941. But when the economic bubble burst in the 1990s, everything changed. By 2004, facing mounting pressure, Akuto’s father had to sell the family business. “The new owner was not interested in whisky,” he said.

It wasn’t just inventory at stake. Some casks were nearly 20 years old and, to Akuto, precious beyond measure. “They were like our children,” he explained. Discarding them would have meant erasing not only an irreplaceable part of his family’s legacy, but also of the history of  Japanese whisky. 

“Each cask holds a unique moment in time, a time capsule, holding the fleeting essence of its creation”

Each cask, he told me, holds a unique moment in time – an unrepeatable combination of the specific atmospheric conditions during distillation, the character of the cask, the ageing environment, and the choices of the distillers. Each bottle, in this sense, is a time capsule, holding the fleeting essence of its creation.

“I wanted to rescue those whiskies,” he said, “so I set up a new company.”

When Akuto was handed the final barrels from his family’s distillery, he knew he held something precious. But rather than blending them into a single expression, he envisioned something greater. Inspiration came, he recalled, during a serendipitous conversation with a graphic designer he met at a bar: “Suddenly I hit upon the idea of four suits of playing cards.”

He chose four of the “strongest” cards –the Ace of Spades, King of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts, and Jack of Clubs – and adorned the bottles with intricate labels. “I didn’t think the bottles would become a series at that time – I just wanted to release four bottles,” he said. But as the whisky made its way into bars, it began to attract attention. “Our whisky was not well known at that time, and nobody knew about Ichiro’s Malt,” Akuto reflected. “But once a particular bottle was sitting on the back bar of a nice whisky bar, customers began to ask about it.” As awareness grew, so did demand.

The Playing Card Series began almost by accident, but Akuto must have played his cards right: the King of Diamonds won the Editor’s Choice award from Whisky Magazine the following year. 

“Collecting the bottles turned into a global challenge, as devotees scrambled to complete their decks”

Over nine years, as Akuto released bottle after bottle, a collection emerged as varied as the cards in a deck, each release embodying a particular flavour, story, and essence. Each cask, each bottle, each numbered card became part of a greater whole. The full Hanyu Card Series collection comprises a total of 58 releases, including the standard 52 playing cards, two Jokers, and a special second bottling of four select cards: the Ace of Spades, Queen of Hearts, King of Diamonds, and Jack of Clubs. This gradual, unplanned release turned collecting the bottles into a global challenge, as devotees scrambled to complete their decks.

In 2015, Bonhams was the first auction house to sell the full card series, setting a world record for the most valuable Japanese whisky collection at HK$3,797,500. Since then, this legendary set has continued to captivate collectors, breaking two further records at Bonhams in 2019 (HK$7,192,000) and in 2020, when it achieved a staggering HK$11,890,600 ($1,520,000). The scattered, unpredictable release format made assembling a full set a nearly impossible feat. Today, only a few complete sets are known to exist, and their presence at auction has caused bidding wars among collectors.

By 2008, the success of the Playing Card Series meant Ichiro had enough money to open Chichibu and take on a single task: “to take whisky back to the past.”

It was a Bowmore 1966, he told me, that first showed him the potential depth of a single malt, a level of complexity that modern methods, in his view, often fail to achieve. “You can’t find that taste in Scotch whisky nowadays,” he said, reflecting on the impact that scaling up production has had on flavour. 

At Chichibu he is changing all that: Each cask at his new distillery is a reflection of his almost obsessive focus on traditional methods. “Each little thing might contribute only a very small percentage to the overall profile, but gradually each step has changed.” 

These marginal differences – from floor malting to mashing and fermentation techniques – add up. His dedication to craft even extends to growing his own barley, becoming the only Japanese distiller to do so. “I would like to go back to the old variety of barley that was used in the 1960s,” he told me. “It’s the closest I can get to preserving the old ways.”

As Bonhams prepares to auction a complete Playing Card Series in Paris this November, bidders will have the chance to own not just a piece of whisky but a moment in history. Each bottle is a reminder that art, craft, and legacy can come together to create something truly unrepeatable.

But for Akuto, these astronomical prices are bittersweet. “I was really happy when I knew there was a person who really appreciates our whisky at such a high price… but on the other hand, we are making whisky to have people drink, and so I wonder, will that 40 sets of whisky be consumed? I hope they open them and drink.”

In the same way that no two shuffles yield the same deck, no two collections of Akuto’s series are the same. For those fortunate enough to acquire one, it’s an invitation to experience the rare thrill of holding, however briefly, a taste of the infinite.

Matthew Wilcox is co-author of the DK Guide to Japan.

Hanyu Ichiro's Malt Full “Card” Series | Paris, Avenue Hoche

For enquiries, contact Amayès Aouli on amayes.aouli@bonhams.com or +33147278516