Founded in 2007 by Ichiro Akuto, the grandson of the founder of the Hanyu distillery, Chichibu has been in operation since February 2008. Consisting of two stills made to order in Scotland by Forsyth’s, it is not only the first Japanese single malt distillery since Hakushu, but it was also the smallest and most confidential. Starting with the sale in 2008 of several very young cuvées, the “newborn” range, Ichiro proposed, since the Whisky Live Paris 2011, his first “real” whisky, a three-year-old barrel proof. Today the distillery bottles its own whiskies up to 12 years old for its Chichibu and Ichiro’s Malt range. The distillery also houses the last stocks of Karuizawa, Kawasaki and Hanyu. Born from the blending of barrels from the Hanyu distillery and Chichibu, Ichiro’s Malt Double Distilleries is a pure malt that combines sweetness and firmness. A sweetness partly inherited from aging in Japanese oak barrels. The firmness is on the other hand from ex-sherry and hogshead barrels in which the malt from the Hanyu distillery has benefited.
