Japanese Whisky - Chichibu

[Ken Gargett]

wondering if anyone has any experience with this tiny distillery? 

a friend who is a wine importer has brought a few bottles - about two dozen mixed whiskies - from this distillery. all the info i can find is very positive. they are not cheap - what Japanese whisky is, these days? but the prices seem to be less than half what the same bottles cost in Japan so i did grab a couple. 

will no doubt include one in kenfessions or a vid with rob but love to know if anyone had tried them. 

[SirVantes]

Chichibu is probably the cult Japanese distillery at the moment, discounting the departed Karuizawa and Hanyu. It was started by Ichiro Akuto, whose grandfather owned the Hanyu distillery. Hanyu suffered during the doldrum years during the 80s and 90s, and after it was sold off, Ichiro found investors who helped him buy up whatever stock of Hanyu he could.  Canny marketing and the world gradually taking note of the whisky's quality made Hanyu one of the most collectible whiskies in the world.

Ichiro started his own Chichibu distillery in 2008 and immediately the whisky world took note. From the beginning, even the young spirit had great character.  I have had his early The First and On the Way bottlings (barely 3 and 5 years old respectively) and found them quite excellent - pure, precise and complex.  Ichiro does many interesting things in his distillation; things like having mizunara (Japanese oak) washbacks, sourced from local wood. 

There is a large range of bottlings, including malt & grain blends, single malts and single casks.  There are also a large number of annual releases and exclusive bottlings for bars and department stores.  Just about all the single malts/single casks are sold out overnight and turn up at mutiples of the retail price on the secondary market.  So if you managed to get some for less than retail, you've hit the jackpot (and I mean this as a drinker, not a flipper).

Interested to know which bottles you snagged.  I personally prefer his unpeated expressions, although his peated stuff gets rave reviews too.  If you've never had Chichibu before, you're in for a treat.

[Ken Gargett]

11 minutes ago, SirVantes said:

Chichibu is probably the cult Japanese distillery at the moment, discounting the departed Karuizawa and Hanyu. It was started by Ichiro Akuto, whose grandfather owned the Hanyu distillery. Hanyu suffered during the doldrum years during the 80s and 90s, and after it was sold off, Ichiro found investors who helped him buy up whatever stock of Hanyu he could.  Canny marketing and the world gradually taking note of the whisky's quality made Hanyu one of the most collectible whiskies in the world.

Ichiro started his own Chichibu distillery in 2008 and immediately the whisky world took note. From the beginning, even the young spirit had great character.  I have had his early The First and On the Way bottlings (barely 3 and 5 years old respectively) and found them quite excellent - pure, precise and complex.  Ichiro does many interesting things in his distillation; things like having mizunara (Japanese oak) washbacks, sourced from local wood. 

There is a large range of bottlings, including malt & grain blends, single malts and single casks.  There are also a large number of annual releases and exclusive bottlings for bars and department stores.  Just about all the single malts/single casks are sold out overnight and turn up at mutiples of the retail price on the secondary market.  So if you managed to get some for less than retail, you've hit the jackpot (and I mean this as a drinker, not a flipper).

Interested to know which bottles you snagged.  I personally prefer his unpeated expressions, although his peated stuff get rave reviews too.  If you've never had Chichibu before, you're in for a treat.

thanks for all that. 

i'd read bits of that online and also in Dave Broom's brilliant book on Japanese whisky, 'The Way of Whisky' - anyone interested in Japanese whiskies who has not read this is in for a treat. you've pretty much nailed all the info and more (only discrepancy was some site said they kicked off in 2004, but matters not). and i had not realised that they were so popular in Japan. 

there was a Chichibu Ichiro's Malt and Grain - i got one for a mate (sounds as though i should have jumped myself). i gather that is the basic whisky they make?

for me, i got one each of Chichibu Ichiro's Malt Wine Wood Reserve 46% (which i gather includes some Hanyu material and operates as a solera); Malt Mizunara Wood Reserve 46%; and Malt and Grain Limited Edition 48%. that last one was the really expensive one. 

looking forward to them. 

 

[SokaKiel]

High jacking this thread about Japanese whisky, sorry for that. Living in a Tokyo suburb and buying Japanese whisky for the last eight years I can’t believe where the prices have ended up!

Saw this earlier today at Dubai fury free! I bought two small bottles (180ml) of this for 1000¥ each, that’s about 10$, just about two month ago at my local convenience store! Every day on my way to the gym I pop back in to see if they’ve got more but they’ve never turned up again.

Just half a year ago I could get a bottle of 12 year old Yamasaki for around 100$ at selected spirit shops, five years ago it sold for 40$ at every supermarket in the country.

Today you mostly find fake Japanese whisky in the local supermarkets (mainly imported stuff from Scotland, stored for a bit in Japan, rebottled and then sold as ‘japanese’ whisky). Every now and then two three bottles of real Japanese whisky pop up here and there but that’s it!

I’ve stocked up on a few bottles of ***** from the Barrel, my go to daily stuff, if you can find it it’s about 30$. But I’m sure it’ll be gone soon too.

Nuts, nowadays I buy good 12 & 18 year old Scottish bottles in Japan for better prices than in Europe.

Will take a break from Japanese whisky until the prices relax again!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ChanceSchmerr]

I visited Chichibu Distillery in Oct 2017 - they are not open to the public but as a Whisky Club founder I was able to book a tour.  They are truly passionate about what they do - my favorite aspect is the way in which they determine their cuts on the distillation - not based solely on ABV%, but on the taste/aroma of the spirit coming out.  They had a series of glasses taken at minuted intervals to illustrate the changes in the spirit as it came through the safe.  Marvelous place.

Of course - whilst you can try all sorts of Chichibu whiskies at the distillery, you cannot buy any of it there at all, nor is there any in the town of Chichibu....or in Tokyo based on my searches.  It essentially does sell out before it ever hits a store shelf.  A massive pity for the regular whisky punter, who just doesn't see it until it hits a bar shelf at an exorbitant price per dram, thanks not to the distillery's pricing, but by the sheer volume of demand and resale price explosions.

With all that said - it is magnificent whisky, and I've enjoyed immensely each one I've tried.  My favorites would be the recent Peated and On the Way releases, as well as the Port Pipe bottlings - so rich and full.  I own no bottles but perhaps someday I'll luck out.

[Ken Gargett]

10 minutes ago, ChanceSchmerr said:

I visited Chichibu Distillery in Oct 2017 - they are not open to the public but as a Whisky Club founder I was able to book a tour.  They are truly passionate about what they do - my favorite aspect is the way in which they determine their cuts on the distillation - not based solely on ABV%, but on the taste/aroma of the spirit coming out.  They had a series of glasses taken at minuted intervals to illustrate the changes in the spirit as it came through the safe.  Marvelous place.

Of course - whilst you can try all sorts of Chichibu whiskies at the distillery, you cannot buy any of it there at all, nor is there any in the town of Chichibu....or in Tokyo based on my searches.  It essentially does sell out before it ever hits a store shelf.  A massive pity for the regular whisky punter, who just doesn't see it until it hits a bar shelf at an exorbitant price per dram, thanks not to the distillery's pricing, but by the sheer volume of demand and resale price explosions.

With all that said - it is magnificent whisky, and I've enjoyed immensely each one I've tried.  My favorites would be the recent Peated and On the Way releases, as well as the Port Pipe bottlings - so rich and full.  I own no bottles but perhaps someday I'll luck out.

thanks for that. starting to feel very fortunate to have grabbed a few, at what is looking more and more like decent pricing.

got the MWR, Winewood and Malt & Grain Limited Edition. 

[ChanceSchmerr]

47 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

thanks for that. starting to feel very fortunate to have grabbed a few, at what is looking more and more like decent pricing.

got the MWR, Winewood and Malt & Grain Limited Edition. 

You did luck out, Ken! The MWR is quite nice, to my taste.  The Ichiro's Malt Series (with the Leaf shaped lable) is a little easier to find than the Chichibu Single Malts, but not that much so.  

[SokaKiel]

I was lucky once, about four years ago and got the whole series, wine wood, MWR and Double distillery’s in small 200ml bottles for $20 dollars each. Great stuff! Loved the long skinny bottles.

Saw them for the first time in a while again today at Dubai Duty free at $200 per 700ml bottle! Crazy!
If I ever come across any other Ichiro Whisky in Japan it’s usually at shops that specialize in buying up stuff and reselling it and the go from anywhere between $500 to $1000 per bottle.
Had a chat last year with the owner of a local shop and he said he only sells them to selected customers where he’s pretty sure that they will drink it instead of reselling it! He’s got random Chinese coming in daily and offering him ridiculous amounts of money for the bottles but he won’t sell as they only want to take them back home and resell them.
There are guys now flying I to Japan and just hunting down bottle shop after bottle shop searching g for any decent whisky to buy and then take home to resell. Absolutely nuts!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ken Gargett]

7 hours ago, SokaKiel said:

I was lucky once, about four years ago and got the whole series, wine wood, MWR and Double distillery’s in small 200ml bottles for $20 dollars each. Great stuff! Loved the long skinny bottles.

Saw them for the first time in a while again today at Dubai Duty free at $200 per 700ml bottle! Crazy!
If I ever come across any other Ichiro Whisky in Japan it’s usually at shops that specialize in buying up stuff and reselling it and the go from anywhere between $500 to $1000 per bottle.
Had a chat last year with the owner of a local shop and he said he only sells them to selected customers where he’s pretty sure that they will drink it instead of reselling it! He’s got random Chinese coming in daily and offering him ridiculous amounts of money for the bottles but he won’t sell as they only want to take them back home and resell them.
There are guys now flying I to Japan and just hunting down bottle shop after bottle shop searching g for any decent whisky to buy and then take home to resell. Absolutely nuts!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

didn't see any of the 200ml bottles. just normal size. they'd be great to have. 

[Lotusguy]

The one available at KL Wines in my neck of the woods currently is “white label malt & grain” which isn’t even distilled in Japan.

For $99.99...

I wouldn’t support this in a million years.

[Ken Gargett]

Just now, Lotusguy said:

The one available at KL Wines in my neck of the woods currently is “white label malt & grain” which isn’t even distilled in Japan.

For $99.99...

I wouldn’t support this in a million years.

i don't think there is any attempt to hide that. i gather he has developed strong relationships over decades and uses those to source whiskies that he bottles or blends with his own.

the price is the issue but from what everyone seems to be saying, that is down the line, not him. 

but then again, this is the road one must take if one wants japanese whiskies these days. prices through the roof. 

[Lotusguy]

i don't think there is any attempt to hide that. i gather he has developed strong relationships over decades and uses those to source whiskies that he bottles or blends with his own.
the price is the issue but from what everyone seems to be saying, that is down the line, not him. 
but then again, this is the road one must take if one wants japanese whiskies these days. prices through the roof. 

This is MSRP. It just looks to me like this distillery profits from their reputation and the general rise in prices of Japanese whiskey by selling non-Japanese, NAS, blended whiskey at a ridiculous price.

That’s their prerogative.

Mine is to not give them a penny of my hard-earned cash.

I guess both parties will happily live with that situation