Whisky from...? Japan

Next in my little series on Whisky from...? is Japan. I've tried a few Japanese whiskies in my time, more recently a great set from Yoichi. But this one is a little special - it's the 800th different whisky I've tried!

Japanese whisky has had a bit of a bust and boom in the last thirty years. In the 90s, the distilleries were not prepared for the economic crash in Japan, whisky fell out of favour in Japan, some distilleries closed and production was scaled back in the rest. In the subsequent recovery they didn't have enough stock laid down to cope with the an ever increasing demand, so now, stock is low and prices are high.

This particular dram came my way as a result of a drample swap with @thedramble, it's from a small distillery called Chichibu to the north west of Tokyo. Chichibu is hot & humid in the summer and cold in the winter, this extreme environment having an significant influence on the aging of whisky.

Chichibu Distillery - Photo: buxrud.se

Founded in 2004 by Ichiro Akuto, Chichibu is on the same scale as Glengyle distillery in Campbeltown, 8 washbacks and 2 stills in the same building. Forsyths created the two onion-shaped stills, from Ichiro's designs. Spirit started to flow in 2008 using barley and peat from Scotland, they have their own malting floor, cooperage and dunnage warehouses. A second distillery, a short distance away came on stream this year.

Chichibu's 8 washbacks and 2 stills. Photo : RoadsAndKingdoms

Ichiro Akuto comes from a line of distillers, his family have been making saki in the area since 1625; more recently, just after the war, his grandfather Isouji built a distillery in the nearby town of Hanyu. Initially grain whisky was distilled using continuous distillation in steel stills but with the business booming new cooper stills came from Scotland in the 1980s and the warehouses started to fill with maturing single malt stock.

The old Hanyu Distillery - Photo: buxrud.se

After the economic crash of the 1990s whisky fell out of favour with the Japanese and Hanyu distillery was sold and eventually closed down. At this time Ichiro was working in the marketing department of Suntory, he managed to raise some money and bought the equipment and remaining stock, some over 30 years old.

Stills from Hanyu on display outside Chichibu - Photo TheWhiskeyWash

The stills are now what you see outside the Chichibu distillery and the stock has been slowly bottled over time - some of it as part of the famous Playing Cards Series.

Chichibu whiskies are released with the name "Ichiro’s Malt", they have a range of grain and malt whiskies as well as one called Double Distilleries which is blended with older stock from Hanyu.

Ichiro’s Malt The Peated a 54.5% 4 year old

This version is the fourth in the range, a limited release of 6,350 bottles was distilled in 2012 and bottled in 2016

Distillery notes: Phenol level of the malt is 51ppm. “Bourbon barrel,” “refill hogshead barrel,” and “hogshead barrel” are selected, and blended with perfect balance. To maximize its deep taste, containing alcohol is 50% which is relatively high. Big difference in temperature within a year, and between day and night in Chichibu city made the whisky deep and rich. You would not be able to believe it is matured only for three years. Pursuing natural taste, we do not chill filter it, and do not use artificial colouring.

Tasting Comment: First impression is strong smokiness. Like smoked daikon pickles and smoked bacon. However, it's flavour is not that simple. It will remind you of vanilla, burnt sugar, baked sweets, and barrel’s fragrance with complex lingering. You would be surprised at this maturation for this short maturity period. Enjoy the taste grown in nature of Chichibu. Nose: Sweet peat, citrusy, vanilla, honey, apricots, baked apples. Palate: Full bodied. Caramel, nutmeg, toffee, cloves, barley, dark chocolate and mild peat. Finish: Smooth, long and warm.

My thoughts:

Appearance:  Pale gold in the glass, swirls form an inverted crown eventually falling as slow thin legs.

Nose: Sweet peat smoke, a little salt, loads of citrus and orchard fruit. There's also a little bit of rocky road going on - milk chocolate, marshmallows etc

Palate: Sweet honey, orchard fruit and a nice peppery spice bite, then a smooth layer of peat smoke - yummy! It's like two dram's in one - a fruity honied Speysider with a lovely dose of Highlander peat smoke as a second course. A few more sips and the rocky road from the nose is back again followed by the peat smoke.

Finish: Peppery spice initially then a lingering peat smoke with a citrus note - yummy!

Overall: WOW - for a 4 year old dram this is amazing - complex honey and fruit, lots of spice and huge peat smoke. It's my first dram from Chichibu and I'm impressed! 

Chichibu Dunnage Warehouse - Photo: fun-chichibu.com

Thanks to @thedramble for the drample swap!