Chichibu 9 Years Old 2014 Cask #11043 (TWE)

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 make is double distilled in copper pot stills built by Forsyths, from mostly unpeated barley, and matured on site in dunnage warehouses. 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 an IPA beer cask. By 9 years the spirit and oak have started to integrate, rougher notes softening as esters build into orchard and tropical fruit. The hopped cask gives citrus and a resinous bitterness. On the palate the Chichibu signature shows through: bright orchard fruit, a clean citrus lift and a thread of wildflower honey.

This bottling was distilled in 2014, from cask 11043 and bottled in 2023. It is a run of 236 bottles, released for UK, bottled by The Whisky Exchange. It is the kind of single cask that built the distillery's reputation among collectors in barely more than a decade. Bottled at 59.5%, natural colour and not chill filtered.