Chichibu The Peated – 10th Anniversary 2018

Chichibu The Peated 10th Anniversary 2018 is a single malt from Venture Whisky's Saitama distillery, released to mark a decade since Ichiro Akuto founded Chichibu in 2008. It is drawn from a 2013 distillation using peated malt, a departure from the distillery's typical unpeated production, distilled at 5 Years Old and bottled at cask strength 55.5%.

Matured in Ex-Bourbon casks, the peated spirit develops differently to Chichibu's fruit-led standard make: the smoke sits at the forefront with a fresh, relatively light character rather than the heavy, earthy peat of an Islay style, framed by honey, vanilla, malt extract and fresh citrus drawn from the bourbon wood. The flavour data confirms this balance, with smokiness alongside fresh fruit and the clean grain sweetness typical of American oak maturation. At the higher cask strength proof, the peat is present without being dominant, and the anniversary occasion gave Chichibu a platform to show the range of its distillation beyond the house's signature unpeated style.