Chichibu Single Cask #4334 8 Years Old 2015 (Ex-Bourbon)

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. Chichibu loses roughly three to five per cent of each cask a year to evaporation, near double the Scottish rate, so a young whisky here carries the depth of a much older one. 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. By 8 years the spirit and oak have started to integrate, rougher notes softening as esters build into orchard and tropical fruit. Ex-bourbon vanillin reads as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut. The palate leans on tropical and orchard fruit, mango and apple, with a clean cereal note beneath.

This bottling was distilled in 2015, from cask 4334 and bottled in 2023. It is a run of 165 bottles, released for France. Single casks like this are the heart of the Chichibu name, each one a different reading of the same young, fast matured spirit. At 63.3% it drinks well neat, with water settling the oak.