Ichiro’s Malt & Grain

Ichiro's Malt & Grain is a world blend built around Chichibu. Ichiro Akuto marries his own Saitama malt with malt and grain whiskies sourced from Scotland, Ireland, the United States and Canada, alongside stock from the closed Japanese distilleries Hanyu and the Kawasaki grain plant tied to his distilling line.

Being a blend, grain whisky lightens and sweetens the malt into an approachable style. With no age statement it rests entirely on the cask, where vanillin reads as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut, the fast Chichibu maturation giving more than the years would suggest. Ex-bourbon vanillin reads as vanilla, the grain lends a clean cereal sweetness, and Chichibu's orchard fruit carries over the top. Sourced peated malt adds a gentle smoke and a peppery warmth on the finish.

Bottled at 48% in a run of 500 for Europe. It carries the label line that this is a worldwide blended whisky, an accessible way into the Chichibu name. Natural colour and an easy, sweet profile. It remains one of the most collected names in modern Japanese whisky. Demand for the distillery's bottlings has long outpaced its small output.