The third London Edition from Chichibu, released in 2020 for The Whisky Exchange and its Whisky Show. It was bottled at cask strength, 53.5%, with an outturn of 1,736 bottles, a step up in power from the 2019 edition.
About This Whisky
For 2020 the distillery vatted a small group of casks, with ex-bourbon wood at the core and a minimum age of around six years, and bottled them without reduction at 53.5%. The 1,736 bottles went first to The Whisky Show and The Whisky Exchange in the UK.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Yellow plum and honey, then malt, vanilla, citrus peel and a floral lift.
- Palate: Lively and textured, with orchard fruit, sweet malt and baking spice building towards oak.
- Finish: Long and clean, with citrus, gentle spice and lightly warming wood.
Serving & Food
Serve slightly cool in a stemmed nosing glass; a few drops of water bring out more honey and fruit. Fine with grilled chicken yakitori with tare, a pear and blue cheese salad or shortbread.
How to Enjoy
London Edition collectors, and drinkers keen to try Chichibu's house style at full strength.
Product Details
Distillery: Chichibu
Producer: Ichiro's Malt / Chichibu Distillery
Edition: London Edition 2020
Released for: The Whisky Exchange / The Whisky Show
Category: Japanese Single Malt Whisky
Country: Japan
Region: Saitama
Cask Type: Mainly ex-bourbon
Outturn: 1,736 bottles
ABV: 53.5%
Proof: 107
Volume: 700mL
About the Distillery
Ichiro Akuto opened Chichibu in 2008, and its success is widely credited with encouraging the wave of small Japanese distilleries that followed. Whisky Magazine inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2024. The distillery belongs to Venture Whisky, the company he set up in 2004.
Fermentation runs in washbacks of Japanese mizunara oak, and a small team of coopers looks after bourbon barrels, sherry butts, wine casks and Japanese oak. Since 2019 a larger second distillery, Chichibu Daini, has operated about 600 metres away, with direct-fired stills and French oak washbacks.