Chichibu Cask by Cask No 4 7 Years Old 2016

The Chichibu distillery was founded in 2008 by Ichiro Akuto, whose family had distilled at the closed Hanyu plant, and works on a small scale in the Saitama mountains. Water comes off the Arakawa river system, filtered through the surrounding mountains to a clean mineral balance that lets the fruit and oak show. The make is double distilled in copper pot stills built by Forsyths, from mostly unpeated barley, and matured on site in dunnage warehouses.

This is unpeated single malt, matured in an Oloroso sherry cask. By 7 years the spirit and oak have started to integrate, rougher notes softening as esters build into orchard and tropical fruit. The Oloroso gives dried fruit and a walnut nuttiness. The palate leans on tropical and orchard fruit, mango and apple, with a clean cereal note beneath.

This bottling was distilled in 2016, from cask 6960 and bottled in 2024. It is a run of 266 bottles, released for Sweden. It is the kind of single cask that built the distillery's reputation among collectors in barely more than a decade. At 59.5% it drinks well neat, with water settling the oak.