Chichibu Whisky Festival 2015 3 Years Old 2011

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 a stout beer cask. At 3 years the spirit is in its extractive phase, pulling vanillin, oak lactones and colour quickly from the wood, which the basin's heat and cold drive harder than a cool maritime warehouse would. The cask adds roasted malt and a cocoa note. Chichibu's fruit led house character carries throughout, pear and honey balanced by a dry, oaky finish.

This bottling was distilled in 2011, from cask 3292 and bottled in 2015. It is a run of 261 bottles, released for Japan. Releases at this scale sell out quickly, which is part of why Chichibu has become one of the most traded distilleries in the world. At 57.6% it drinks well neat, with water settling the oak.