Ichiro’s Malt – Chichibu On The Way 2019

Single Malt Whisky from the Chichibu Distillery in Japan

Ichiro Akuto is the grandson of the founder of the famous Hanyu distillery which ceased production in 2000. Ichiro managed to buy the remaining Hanyu whisky casks and released the whisky in a playing cards series, i.e. he released a whisky for every card in the deck including the 2 jokers - 54 releases in all. In 2008, Ichiro founded the Chichibu distillery nearby.

The whisky is from a batch of 52 casks, all matured for between five and ten years. They are mainly first-fill ex-bourbon, but there are also some second-fill chibidaru casks in the mix, as well as some hogsheads with mizunara (Japanese oak) heads and some peated whisky.

Bottled at 51.5% abv, the whisky is non-chill filtered and non-coloured.