Chichibu Ichiro's Malt & Grain 10th Anniversary For Bar Peace (Hanyu Karuizawa) Single Sherry Cask Blend #11953 70cl
1 of 277 bottles produced. A very rare example of a Chichibu (albeit it contains Karuizawa and Hanyu also)
Ichiro's Malt and Grain is a limited edition, blended by the king of independent Japanese distillers: Ichiro Akuto.
It comprises whisky from his own stocks, including potentially Hanyu and Karuizawa, as well as his own Chichibu distillery, and possibly also some components distilled at other Japanese distilleries and from other countries. Everything was originally blended into one cask and now here we are with a very rare breed of whisky produced in Japan.
This is a blend from Ichiro Akuto, matured in single Oloroso sherry hogshead #11953. It was bottled in December 2023 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bar Peace.
It is uncertain when this was distilled although it has retained a lot of colour in the blend and Japan are not known for adding caramel colouring so this is not only a mystery, a rarity but also very little info exists on the taste of this.
About Chichibu
Chichibu distillery in Saitama, Japan was opened in 2008, and was the country’s first new distillery since Suntory opened Hakushu back in 1973. Chichibu was the brainchild of Ichiro Akuto, grandson of the founder of the legendary Hanyu distillery. The Ichiro’s Malt brand appeared in 2005 and rose to fame through the bottling of the last casks from Hanyu, particularly the sought after ‘Card’ series. The first Chichibu releases appeared under it in 2011.
Chichibu is one of Japan’s smallest whisky distilleries, famous for their craft-scale production. With a small, young team, innovative methods and a following from around the world, Chichibu is seen by many as the future of Japanese whisky.
Chichibu was founded by the living legend Ichiro Akuto, a name made familiar to many by his award-winning Ichiro’s Malt Cards. While Chichibu is quite a young distillery, founded in 2004 and beginning production in 2008, Ichiro’s history with the spirit goes back much further. His family have been involved in Sake production since the 17th century, and his grandfather started whisky production at the Hanyu distillery in the 20th century. During the whisky loch and financial downturns of the 1980s and ‘90s, Hanyu was eventually forced to close, becoming one of Japan’s famous lost distilleries. Their casks, however, were still resting, and Akuto took ownership of these in 2004. These became the base for Ichiro’s Malt Cards, a highly collectable series of 58 bottles representing cards in a deck.
57% ABV
70cl
