Chibidaru was an early Chichibu release that showed what Ichiro Akuto's young distillery could do with small casks. Distilled in 2010 and bottled in 2014 at a cask strength of 53.5%, it spent its whole life in cut-down hogsheads rather than being finished in them. The name joins the Japanese chibi, meaning little, with daru, meaning cask.
About This Whisky
The casks behind this bottling started life as standard hogsheads and were shortened by the distillery to around 150 litres, somewhere between a quarter cask and an American barrel. A smaller cask means more oak surface for each litre of spirit, so flavour arrives quicker. The spirit was filled in 2010 and bottled in 2014, making it roughly four years old, and it went into the bottle at 53.5% without being brought down to a standard strength.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Baked apple and syrupy pear, a little redcurrant and cherry blossom, over malted cereal and a damp, earthy note.
- Palate: A bold, sweet arrival of brown sugar and tinned pineapple, then a surge of white pepper and a sour edge like grapefruit pith.
- Finish: Quite long, with dusty spice, tart citrus and a last trace of tropical fruit.
Serving & Food
Taste it first at room temperature in a tulip-shaped glass, then add a small splash of still water. The pepper calms down and peach and apricot come forward. Good company for yuzu-glazed pork belly, a wedge of aged Comté or an almond financier.
How to Enjoy
Drinkers tracing Chichibu back to its earliest stock, or curious about how small casks shape a young malt.
Product Details
Distillery: Chichibu
Owner: Venture Whisky
Expression: Chibidaru / The Original Quarter Cask
Vintage: 2010
Bottled: 2014
Cask: Cut-down hogsheads (approx. 150 litres)
Category: Japanese Single Malt Whisky
Volume: 700mL
ABV: 53.5%
Origin: Japan
Region: Saitama
About the Distillery
Ichiro Akuto is the grandson of the man who founded Hanyu distillery. When his family firm sold Hanyu in 2004, he set up Venture Whisky to bottle the surviving Hanyu stock as Ichiro's Malt and to raise money for a distillery of his own. Chichibu gained its licence in 2007, the first new whisky licence issued in Japan in about 35 years, and began distilling in 2008 on the edge of the city of Chichibu in Saitama Prefecture, north-west of Tokyo.
It is a small, hands-on place: a single copper wash still and a single spirit still of roughly 2,000 litres each, fermenters made of Japanese mizunara oak, and its own cooperage.