Chichibu Australia Edition 2024

What it is

The inaugural Australian edition from Chichibu, released in 2024 and limited to 480 bottles at 52.5%. It joins the distillery's existing country and city editions for Paris, London, Taiwan and the US. The label carries a W8 class Melbourne tram, the ones built between 1923 and 1956 that still run the city circle.

Where it comes from

Chichibu distillery in Saitama, founded by Ichiro Akuto in 2008 and the first new Japanese whisky distillery in 35 years. Single malt, distilled and matured on site, with no imported component. Akuto is one of the producers most associated with the push for stricter standards in Japanese whisky.

How it's made

A vatting of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks using both peated and unpeated Chichibu spirit. Non-chill filtered and natural colour, which is standard across Ichiro's single malts. Chichibu works at a deliberately small scale with mizunara washbacks, a hand stirred mash tun and Forsyths stills, and the valley's swing between freezing winters and humid summers pushes maturation along faster than the age would suggest. The exact age isn't stated.

What to expect

Red berries and gentle oak tannin, with spice through the middle and a long, warming finish. The peated portion is there for depth rather than smoke, so this isn't a smoky whisky. At 52.5% it carries weight, and it's the kind of bottle that changes a fair bit with ten minutes in the glass.

How it compares

Against the 2025 Australia Edition, this one has sherry in the mix and includes peated spirit, where the 2025 is unpeated and uses Californian red wine and virgin French oak. They're genuinely different whiskies, not a repeat. Against the London and Paris editions it sits in the same tier, and these releases tend to be bought as much for scarcity as for what's in them. Against a core Chichibu like The First Ten, the city editions are more experimental and harder to find.