The Caribbean, Trinidad. Distillery closed, site dismantled.

In 1975, under pressure from across the country, the government of Trinidad nationalized a number of companies, including Tate & Lyle, the English giant of sugar production and owner of Caroni Ltd since 1937. The very competitive economic context, however, led to the closure of the island's sugar refineries and the collapse of the molasses production required for the production of rum. In 2001, the government sold its shares in Rum Distillers Ltd (Caroni) to Angostura and closed the distillery in 2002. Caroni Ltd would be definitively liquidated on 31 July 2003. In October 2004, Luca Gargano, the CEO of the Italian spirit distributor Velier and a passionate rum enthusiast and photographer, visited Trinidad to carry out research for a future report. There he found the site abandoned and, within its cellars, a huge stock of barrels, some distilled in 1974. The story of Caroni began in 2005 and the distillery immediately became the subject of lore.

A Hanyu distilled in 2000 and bottled at cask strength in 2008, finished in an American oak first-fill sherry cask after maturation in a hogshead. The now very famous and highly sought-after Card Series resulted from a meeting between Ichiro Akuto and artist Takeshi Abe. Ichiro Akuto was trying to sells cask from his grandfather’’s distillery. The theme of playing cards had great appeal. Easily identifiable, the bottles’’ labels helped them stand out and made them natural collectables. To ensure the whisky also stood out, each malt was finished in different types of cask, some of which were very original, after more traditional maturation in a hogshead. The series was launched in 2005 and ended in 2014 with two jokers—one monochrome and one polychrome. All in all, the series comprises 58 bottlings, representing the standard 52 cards, four doubles and two jokers. A limited edition of 632 bottles.