Chichibu 7 Years Old 2011 Cask #5253 (Speciality Drinks Ltd)

Ichiro Akuto built Chichibu in 2008 in a landlocked basin in Saitama, carrying forward a distilling line that ran back through the lost Hanyu distillery. The distillery ferments in washbacks built from Japanese mizunara oak, where native lactobacilli add fruit and a light incense note to the wash. Water comes off the Arakawa river system, filtered through the surrounding mountains to a clean mineral balance that lets the fruit and oak show.

This is unpeated single malt, matured in a pinot noir wine cask. At 7 years, helped by an angel's share near double Scotland's, the make tastes older than it is, the esters rounding into stone fruit and the oak settling. The wine gives light red cherry and berry. The body is medium and the fruit clear, baked apple and citrus peel running into a warm, lightly spiced finish.

This bottling was distilled in 2011, from cask 5253 and bottled in 2018. It is a run of 254 bottles, released exclusively for Sexy Fish in Mayfair, London, bottled by Speciality Drinks Ltd. Single casks like this are the heart of the Chichibu name, each one a different reading of the same young, fast matured spirit. At 60.2%, best read neat first, then opened with a little water.