Chichibu Ichiro’s Malt 7 Years Old 2010

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 an Oloroso sherry 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 Oloroso gives dried fruit and a walnut nuttiness. 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 2010, from cask 2649 and bottled in 2017. It is a run of 286 bottles, released for Norway. From a distillery still in its first generation, bottlings like this show how far Chichibu has come in a short time. At 59.6% it drinks well neat, with water settling the oak.