Cask #1402 is a 2011 Chichibu bottled at 61.2% for Spirits Shop' Selection, the Taipei importer and independent bottler. It is one cask, drawn at full strength, from the distillery's fourth year of production.
About This Whisky
Distilled in 2011, three years after the stills first ran, and bottled in 2016 after about five years in wood. The cask went to Spirits Shop' Selection, the import and bottling business founded in Taipei in 2014 by Eric Huang, which released it as a pair with cask #1883 from 2012. It is presented at cask strength, 61.2%, with no reduction, and it makes a useful marker of how Chichibu spirit tasted after five years in its early days.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Fresh-cut pear, lemon peel and malted biscuit, then vanilla and a little ginger.
- Palate: Punchy and oily: orchard fruit, honey, white pepper and toasted oak, with a hint of pineapple.
- Finish: Clean and long, with citrus oil, cereal and warm spice.
Serving & Food
Somewhere between cellar-cool and room temperature suits it. Use a copita, start neat, then add water gradually, as the strength takes more than you might expect. Pair it with pork gyoza, salt-and-pepper squid or a wedge of mature cheddar.
How to Enjoy
Anyone putting together a Chichibu line-up by vintage, or tasting it next to its 2012 sister cask.
Product Details
Distillery: Chichibu
Vintage: 2011
Bottled: 2016
Cask: #1402
Selection: Spirits Shop' Selection, Taiwan
Category: Japanese Single Malt Whisky
Volume: 700mL
Region: Saitama, Japan
ABV: 61.2% ABV
Origin: Japan
About the Distillery
Ichiro Akuto comes from a family of drinks makers. His grandfather founded the Hanyu distillery, and when the family company, Toa Shuzo, was sold in 2004, the new owners showed no interest in whisky. Akuto kept the remaining Hanyu casks, formed Venture Whisky that year and began bottling them as Ichiro's Malt, including the playing-card series that made his name among collectors. With that stock drawing attention, he built his own distillery in Chichibu in 2007, and its first spirit ran in February 2008. Ichiro's Malt is still the name on the label of Chichibu bottlings today.