The third US Edition from Chichibu, and a peated one: ten casks married together and bottled at 55.5% in 2020, with 2,109 bottles for the American market.
About This Whisky
The 2020 release brings together ten casks: four bourbon barrels, three refill bourbon barrels, two refill chibidaru quarter casks and one refill wine cask. The malt has been reported at around 30 parts per million phenols, moderate next to heavily peated Islay styles, so the fruit is never buried. It was bottled at 55.5% in 750ml bottles, and 2,109 were filled.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Peat smoke with lemon peel, malt loaf and a little floral vanilla sweetness.
- Palate: Medium-bodied and lively: smoked honey, citrus, black pepper and a touch of red fruit from the wine cask.
- Finish: Spicy and persistent, fading to ash and cereal.
Serving & Food
Drink it neat at room temperature, or over a single large ice cube in a rocks glass on a warm evening. A highball with chilled soda and a twist of lemon also works. With food, try smoked cheese, pork belly bao or teriyaki salmon.
How to Enjoy
Peat fans after a smoky Japanese malt with the Chichibu fruit still showing, and anyone keeping a vertical of US Editions.
Product Details
Producer: Chichibu / Ichiro's Malt
Country: Japan
Region: Saitama
Category: Peated Japanese single malt whisky
Expression: The Peated US Edition
Release: 2020
Casks: 10 casks: bourbon, refill bourbon, refill chibidaru, refill wine
Bottles: 2,109
ABV: 55.5% ABV
Volume: 750mL
About the Distillery
Ichiro Akuto was a blender before he was a distiller. Years before Chichibu made any spirit, he was choosing and vatting casks of his grandfather's Hanyu whisky for the Ichiro's Malt label, and that habit of assembling small batches shaped the distillery's releases from the start. His Double Distilleries, a marriage of Hanyu and Chichibu malt, was made that way from 2008 until 2025, when malt from Chichibu's second distillery took the place of Hanyu. Alongside the single casks, Chichibu now puts out annual editions for particular cities and countries, each drawn from a spread of barrels and put together to a house style rather than left to one cask's quirks.