Prices
Prices and stock come from each retailer's website. Check with the store before you buy.
More from this distillery: All Chichibu whiskies and prices
About
What it is
The first age-stated single malt from Chichibu, released in November 2020 at 50.5% and limited to 5,000 bottles. The distillery started production in 2008, so this was twelve years in the making, and the release closed out the On The Way series that had been tracking the journey toward it.
Where it comes from
Chichibu, in Saitama, built by Ichiro Akuto in 2004 and operational from 2008. It was the first new whisky distillery in Japan in 35 years. Distilled, matured and bottled on site with no imported component. We haven't found a formal producer statement against the Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association standard, though Akuto has been consistently vocal that his malt whisky is Japanese whisky in the full sense.
How it's made
Blended from 26 casks, mainly first-fill bourbon with mizunara and sherry filling it out, and a small peated malt component adding depth. Some of the barley was grown locally in Chichibu, which the distillery made a point of at the time. Chichibu works at tiny scale with a small mill, hand stirred mash tun, mizunara washbacks and Forsyths pot stills. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.
What to expect
Rich and honeyed with intense fruit, then cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper. The light peat is folded in rather than obvious. Ten years in Chichibu's climate, with freezing winters and humid summers, does more work than ten years somewhere cooler, so it drinks older than the number.
How it compares
Against Chichibu 10 Year Old, the 2025 release and only the second age statement they've done, this is the original and the more historically significant. Against the Australia, London and Paris editions, those are smaller, more experimental and harder to get. Against Ichiro's Malt & Grain, the world blend, this is the pure Chichibu article and priced accordingly.
