The 2019 US Edition is the second of Chichibu's yearly single malts vatted for American drinkers, and this one is built on peated spirit. It was bottled at 55.5% in the 750ml size used in the United States, and it blends several casks rather than showing a single one.
About This Whisky
Ichiro Akuto launched the US Edition in 2018 as an annual single malt for the American market, vatting a small group of casks each year. The 2019 release uses peated malt, and the casks were married at the distillery before bottling at 55.5% for the US, in 750ml rather than the 700ml used in Europe and Japan. It sits between the 2018 original, built on bourbon barrels and mizunara, and the ten-cask peated edition of 2020.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Bonfire smoke and lemon, then vanilla, pear and a light herbal note.
- Palate: Sweet barley and red fruit meet peppery smoke, with a creamy texture and some dried-berry depth.
- Finish: Long, ashy and gently sweet.
Serving & Food
Room temperature and a Glencairn suit it, with a little water to take the edge off 55.5%. It sits well beside smoky food: barbecued pork ribs, seared katsuo tataki or smoked salmon on rye.
How to Enjoy
Anyone building a run of US Editions, and peat drinkers looking for a Chichibu with depth behind the smoke.
Product Details
Distillery: Chichibu
Producer: Ichiro's Malt
Expression: The Peated US Edition
Release year: 2019
Category: Japanese Single Malt Whisky, peated
ABV: 55.5% ABV
Origin: Japan
Region: Saitama
Volume: 750mL
About the Distillery
Demand for Chichibu outgrew the original stillhouse within about a decade. In 2019, the year this bottle came out, a second distillery started up roughly 600 metres from the first. Chichibu II has about five times the capacity, and its pot stills are fired directly rather than heated with steam. Its whisky only appeared as a single malt in 2025, so the 2019 US Edition comes wholly from the original distillery, where the original small pot stills have been running since 2008 and where the peated and unpeated streams were first laid down.