This is the boxed version of Chichibu cask #179, a bourbon barrel filled in the distillery's opening year and bottled at 60.9% for Jazz & Drink Mood'y Blue. The whisky spent almost eleven years in wood, and the bottle comes in its original presentation box.
About This Whisky
Cask #179 belongs to the Malt Dream Cask series, early Chichibu casks bought outright by a private owner and later bottled in that owner's name, here the jazz bar Jazz & Drink Mood'y Blue. Spirit went into the ex-bourbon barrel in December 2008 and came out in October 2019. The barrel yielded 179 bottles at 60.9%, bottled at natural colour and not chill-filtered.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Vanilla custard, tinned peach and lemon zest, then fresh-sawn oak and a pinch of cinnamon.
- Palate: Dense and powerful, with toffee, orchard fruit, malted biscuit and white pepper. Water draws out honey and softer fruit.
- Finish: Long and warming, with dry oak spice and a lingering sweetness.
Serving & Food
Serve at a cool room temperature, 18 to 20°C, in a Glencairn or small copita. Taste it at full strength first, then add a little still water to calm the alcohol. Try it alongside smoked duck breast, salted caramel chocolates or a hard sheep's cheese.
How to Enjoy
A gift or a keeper for someone who collects early Chichibu and wants the box intact.
Product Details
Distillery: Chichibu
Series: Malt Dream Cask, Jazz & Drink Mood'y Blue
Vintage: 2008 (distilled December 2008)
Bottled: October 2019
Cask number: #179
Cask type: Bourbon barrel
Outturn: 179 bottles
ABV / Strength: 60.9% ABV
Bottle size / Format: 700mL, with box
Region: Saitama, Japan
About the Distillery
Chichibu is a small, hands-on distillery in the hills north-west of Tokyo. Its washbacks are made from mizunara, Japanese oak, and fermentations run for roughly 60 to 80 hours. Distillation takes place in a pair of small copper pot stills of about 2,000 litres each, and the mash is still stirred with a wooden paddle. Some barley is floor-malted on site, including grain grown around Chichibu.
The local climate does a lot of the work. Summers are hot and humid and winters freezing, so the spirit moves in and out of the wood quickly and even young Chichibu tends to taste settled. In 2019 Ichiro Akuto added a second, larger distillery, Chichibu 2, close to the original.