Zero is a single cask of Chichibu from the Malt Dream Cask scheme, the cask-owner programme that helped pay for the distillery's first years. It was bottled at 63.1% ABV and limited to 160 bottles, with a calligraphy label by the Japanese artist Yubaku Araki.
About This Whisky
The label shows the character for zero (零) written by the calligrapher Yubaku Araki, which gives the bottling its name. It was bottled in 2020 at a full 63.1%, and 160 bottles were filled. Cask type and fill date are not published.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Concentrated malt, vanilla and orchard fruit with warm oak spice.
- Palate: Powerful and dense, with honeyed barley, citrus peel, pepper and a sweet wood frame.
- Finish: Long, drying slowly on spice and cereal sweetness.
Serving & Food
Pour a small measure into a nosing glass and let it rest for a while before tasting. At 63.1% it needs water; add it gradually and taste between additions. Aged Gouda, smoked almonds or a plain rice cracker keep the palate clear.
How to Enjoy
A bottle for serious Chichibu followers interested in the distillery's early history and the Malt Dream Cask scheme.
Product Details
Distillery: Chichibu
Producer: Venture Whisky Ltd., founded 2004 by Ichiro Akuto
Origin: Saitama, Japan
Series: Malt Dream Cask
Label: Zero, calligraphy by Yubaku Araki
Bottled: 2020
Strength: Cask strength
ABV: 63.1%
Bottles: 160
Volume: 700mL
About the Distillery
When Chichibu started distilling in 2008, Venture Whisky had years to wait before its own spirit could legally be sold as whisky. Apart from the Hanyu casks Ichiro Akuto had rescued, the company had nothing of its own to sell, and its first matured whisky did not ship until 2011.
Malt Dream Cask was one answer to that gap. Bars, shops and private buyers paid for a cask of new make, which then aged in the Chichibu warehouses until the owners chose to bottle it. Many of these casks were filled in the first years of production, and the bottlings now show how the young distillery's early spirit has aged.