Chichibu Whisky Festival 2015 3 Years Old 2011

The Chichibu Whisky Festival is a celebrated annual occasion at Venture Whisky's Saitama distillery, typically featuring special single cask bottlings chosen to illustrate the range of Ichiro Akuto's cask programme. This 2011 vintage was bottled in 2015 at just 3 years old for the festival, directed to the Japanese domestic market at cask strength.

The maturation vessel is a Stout barrel, the beer-seasoned wood that brings roasted grain, dark chocolate and an earthy, almost coffee-tinged quality to young spirit. At three years, there is barely time for the new make to soften significantly, and the stout cask at this age gives the spirit a pronounced dark edge alongside the distillery's typically bright fruit character. At 57.6% cask strength, the bottling is vivid and direct, an honest portrait of Chichibu new make at an early stage in an unusual wood.