Chichibu 2009 Chibidaru

Founded in 2008 by Ichiro Akuto, Chichibu has risen fast from a small mountain distillery to one of the most sought names in Japanese whisky. Water comes off the Arakawa river system, filtered through the surrounding mountains to a clean mineral balance that lets the fruit and oak show. Wide day to night temperature swings drive the wood interaction, which is why Chichibu reads older than its years suggest.

This is unpeated single malt, matured in ex-bourbon American oak. Only 4 years old, it leans on early wood extraction, vanillin and oak lactones to the fore, though Chichibu's fast maturation gives it more weight than the age implies. Ex-bourbon vanillin reads as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut. Chichibu's fruit led house character carries throughout, pear and honey balanced by a dry, oaky finish.

This bottling was distilled in 2009 and bottled in 2013. It is a run of 3900 bottles, released for Europe. Each cask is bottled on its own terms, a snapshot of how a particular wood shaped the Saitama spirit. At 53.5% it drinks well neat, with water settling the oak. It remains one of the most collected names in modern Japanese whisky.