CHICHIBU - Vintage 2012 - Pinot Noir Finish - 62.20%
Ichiro's Malt is an independent Japanese whisky bottling company. It was established by Ichiro Akuto , in an unusually modest premises in Chichibu , a town 100 km northwest of Tokyo, with only two small stills. Akuto's education in whisky distilling came from the family business. His grandfather was originally a maker and manager of a sake brewery, the Hanyu Distillery, founded in 1625, before he was granted a distiller's license to produce whisky in 1941. Akuto's father continued the work his grandfather had started, and his passion for whisky led him to purchase two stills from Scotland capable of producing approximately 400 casks. In 2000, the economic decline in Japan and a reduction in sake consumption forced the family to sell their business. However, Ichiro Akuto turned this potential crisis into an opportunity and reclaimed the stills and maturing whisky casks from the brewery's new owners.
Today, Ichiro Akuto continues to implement the techniques learned over many years at the Hanyu Distillery and is one of the most ambitious Japanese distillers in operation. Some 4,000 casks of Sherry, wine and Bourbon are currently maturing, while he has begun experiments with growing barley locally, in the hope of producing a truly Japanese whisky.
This edition of Chichibu was distilled in 2012 and then aged in a single cask ( #5077) that had contained Pinot Noir. 205 bottles were produced.
