This is the 2023 travel retail edition of Chichibu, a single malt bottled by Venture Whisky for international duty-free shops. It comes at 57% ABV in a 700mL bottle, a strong, undiluted look at the distillery's house style.
About This Whisky
Chichibu has made travel retail bottlings in several years, so the year on the label matters. The 2023 bottling carries no age statement and is bottled at full strength. Venture Whisky does not publish a cask breakdown for it. It sits apart from the country and city editions, since it was made for airport shops rather than a single market.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Dates, salted caramel and dark chocolate over sweet malt and oak spice.
- Palate: Big and mouth-coating, with toffee, baked dark fruit, pepper and a firm core of barley.
- Finish: Long and warm, fading on cocoa, clove and sweet oak.
Serving & Food
Serve in a copita at cellar temperature, about 18°C. Water is worth trying here, a teaspoon at a time, since 57% hides a lot of fruit. It sits well with dark chocolate truffles, braised pork belly or dried figs.
How to Enjoy
For Chichibu fans who want the distillery at full strength, and for anyone tracking the distillery's duty-free releases year by year.
Product Details
Distillery: Chichibu
Producer: Venture Whisky Ltd., founded 2004 by Ichiro Akuto
Release: Travel retail edition 2023
Category: Japanese single malt whisky
Age: No age statement
Country: Japan
Region: Saitama Prefecture
Volume: 700mL
ABV: 57%
About the Distillery
Chichibu works at a very small scale and does most of the work by hand. The original distillery has one mash tun of about 2,400 litres, eight washbacks made of Japanese mizunara oak and a single pair of 2,000-litre pot stills built by Forsyths in Scotland. Fermentation in wood lets lactic bacteria add flavour, and the team fills casks at about 63.5%.
Akuto has also pushed the work back into the supply chain. Local farmers grow barley for the distillery, and an on-site cooperage builds and repairs casks, so more of the whisky's character is decided in Chichibu itself.