Piano is the softest-spoken of the 2006 Jazz Instrumental casks, bottled at 52.8%. Like its siblings it began as Kentucky whiskey and spent a second, Japanese stretch at the Chichibu distillery, but it stayed in America a year longer than the others. Cask 2969 filled 108 bottles.
About This Whisky
This cask aged in Kentucky from 2006 to 2013 and then at Chichibu from December 2013 to August 2018, for about twelve years in wood. It was bottled at 52.8% with an outturn of 108 bottles.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Sweet oak, soft caramel and vanilla, with orange peel and a little dry spice.
- Palate: Rounded and gentle for the strength, with sweet grain, toasted wood, pepper and light dried fruit.
- Finish: Drying and persistent, oak spice fading slowly into sweetness.
Serving & Food
A slightly cool room, say 18°C, and a tulip glass suit it; it drinks easily neat, with water optional. Try it with duck breast and plum sauce, a salted caramel tart or a plate of Medjool dates.
How to Enjoy
Someone who enjoys mellow, older bourbon-style whiskey, or anyone completing the Jazz Instrumental run.
Product Details
Brand/Series: Ken's Choice Jazz Instrumental, Piano
Producer: Distilled in Kentucky, USA; second maturation and bottling at Chichibu
Vintage: 2006
Cask Number: #2969
Maturation: Kentucky 2006 to 2013; Chichibu December 2013 to August 2018
Outturn: 108 bottles
Category: American Whiskey, second-matured in Japan
ABV: 52.8%
Volume: 700mL
Origin: USA (distilled) / Japan (matured and bottled)
Region: Kentucky / Saitama
About the Distillery
Ken's Choice takes its name from Ken Matsuyama, whose Tokyo bar built a following for its private bourbon selections before closing in 2022. He placed a small number of Kentucky barrels with Chichibu for further ageing and bottled each one separately under an instrument name. Merchants commonly suggest Wild Turkey as the original distiller, though no official source confirms it.
Chichibu was set up in the city of the same name in Saitama by Ichiro Akuto, who founded Venture Whisky in 2004 and began distilling in 2008. The distillery keeps things small and local, from mizunara washbacks to its own cooperage, and that hands-on approach carries over to the imported casks it looks after.