Ichiro’s Double Distilleries

Ichiro's Double Distilleries is a blended malt that unites two chapters of the Akuto family's whisky history. Hanyu distillery in Saitama produced malt until its closure in 2000, and its remaining casks became the foundation of Ichiro Akuto's celebrated Card Series and associated special releases. Chichibu, the new Venture Whisky distillery Akuto built in 2008, carries the family tradition forward with its own fruit-forward character. Bringing the two together under a single label is both a tribute and a demonstration of the breadth of the estate's stock.

This 2016 release draws from Ex-Bourbon casks at both sites and is bottled at a muscular 60.1% cask strength. With no flavour profile specified, the expression is best understood as two complementary Saitama malts in dialogue, the older Hanyu richness meeting the brighter, more vibrant Chichibu new make, the whole amplified by natural strength.