Chichibu Mizunara Hogshead 2010 Cask #1000 700mL

A single mizunara hogshead from Chichibu, cask #1000, distilled in 2010 and bottled in 2018 for the specialist bottler Number One Drinks. The cask gave 278 bottles at a full strength of 62.2%.

About This Whisky

Mizunara is a slow-growing Japanese oak. It is porous and awkward to work, so casks tend to leak and the angels' share runs high, but the wood gives flavours no other oak quite matches, often described as sandalwood and incense. Cask #1000 is a mizunara hogshead filled in 2010 and emptied in 2018, after about eight years. It was bottled without reduction at 62.2% and yielded 278 bottles.

Tasting Profile

• Nose: Sandalwood, temple incense and coconut, with candied orange and a hint of cedar.
• Palate: Intense and resinous, with honey, stewed apricot, ginger and a sweet, spicy oak core.
• Finish: Very long, with incense, dark spice and a clean, drying woodiness.

Serving & Food

Keep it unchilled, in a small tulip, and go easy with water; one or two drops is enough to bring the sandalwood forward. Pair with lightly salted roast chestnuts, a slice of yokan or an aged hard cheese.

How to Enjoy

Mizunara enthusiasts, and anyone wanting to taste what Japanese oak does to Chichibu spirit at full strength.

Product Details

About the Distillery

Few distilleries lean on Japanese oak as much as Chichibu. Mizunara is used for the fermentation vessels, and the distillery keeps its own cooperage, where casks are raised and repaired by hand. The warehouses hold far more than mizunara, though: ex-bourbon barrels, sherry casks, port pipes, red wine, rum and even tequila casks all sit alongside it, which is why the single-cask range is so broad. Founder Ichiro Akuto has run the distillery since 2008, and a second, larger site, Chichibu 2, opened nearby in 2019.