Hanshin Tigers Mercian 2003 Team Figurine 12 x 36cl

The Hanshin Tigers are one of the oldest professional baseball teams in Japan. They played their first season in 1936 and are based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture.

This lot celebrates players from the 2003 season. Mercian, the former owners of Japan’s legendary Karuizawa distillery, produced these bottles.

Karuizawa distillery was a Japanese whisky distillery located in Miyota, on the southern slopes of Mount Asama, an active complex volcano in Kitasaku District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

Established in 1955, the distillery began production in 1956. It was owned by Mercian Corporation, and was the smallest in Japan. It was mothballed in 2000, and closed in 2011; the land on which it had stood was sold in 2012. The remaining whisky stock from the distillery was purchased and re-branded, then released as a series of luxury whiskies. The rarest of these is the 1960 vintage.