Whisky Extravaganza: Japanese unobtanium. Let's talk Chichibu

Panta rhei. Or ‘everything moves’, ‘nothing remains the same forever’. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus knew this already two and half thousand years ago. Not to worry, as this won’t be an attempt at lecturing you about Greek philosophy, but it does sort of captivate the setting of today’s blogpost. You see, up until a few years ago, the quintessential Malt Whisky Yearbook used to dedicate a small chapter in each edition to Japanese distilleries. Much in the same way as with the Scottish malt distilleries, an introductory article was written (often by the hand of Stefan Van Eycken), after which the active Japanese distilleries were covered in alphabetical order. It was a very handy overview if you were trying to keep up with what was happening with whisky in the land of the rising sun in the laziest of ways. A dozen or so Japanese distilleries all neatly lined up, each given half a page, allowed us to get yearly updates of what was happening beyond the usual suspects of Hakushu, Yoichi or Yamazaki. Nice and easy, indeed. Always keep those old copies about, because in recent years  (I think 2021 was the last edition) the ‘Japanese section’ of the MWYB is no more. Probably because the growing number of distilleries in Scotland but also the rest of the world demanded more space of their own, ‘forcing’ Ingvar and his team to cut a separate, dedicated  Japanese chapter. Understandable, but also somewhat of a pity. By and large I don’t chase whiskies. While I will be on the lookout for a few, I’ve also happily adopted a ‘whatever comes my way, let’s roll with that’ attitude. It sure helps to keep the fomo in check, for one thing, and it also helped ignoring hyped yet ridiculously overpriced (Japanese) whiskies. But when it comes to those Japanese whiskies, the MWYB was a particularly helpful tool to help separate the wheat from the chaff. As, despite all the good and positive signals coming from the far east in terms of transparency and integrity,  there still is an awful lot of chaff.

Luckily, there are other ways to keep updated on all and everything that’s been happening in the Japanese whisky industry in recent years (which is an awful lot, btw). Obviously there’s the aforementioned Stefan van Eycken who happens to be the author of ‘Whisky rising’. It’s fair to say that what Dave Broom and Charlie Maclean are to Scotch whisky, Stephan Van Eycken is to Japanese whisky: a most trustworthy guide and a great ‘teller’ of the Japanese whisky tale. In line with Ingvar’s MWYB, there is also the Japanese Whisky Yearbook covering the roughly 80 (!) currently active distilleries in Japan, although I need to admit I haven’t as yet got hold of that. And for those who really like to keep their finger on the pulse, we can count our blessings with  Mac from Kanpai Planet, delivering us dashing looking, well-made videos,  which never fail to deliver us all the latest on Japanese whiskies in an  informative and a  bit tongue in cheek manner.

Anyway, back to those earlier editions of the MWYB, still covering a Japanese section. It’s through these I discovered that there was much mor to Japanese whisky than Nikka from the Barrel or Hibiki Harmony. One particular distillery caught my eye, as it seemed to be a trailblazer doing very much its own thing in its own way, going against the proverbial grain: Chichibu.

Back in 2007, when literally still no-one gave a toss about Japanese whisky, Ichiro Akuto treaded into the footsteps of his grandfather, who used to own the (now gone) Hanyu distillery and started up his own little booze plant. Chichibu has since been considered the embodiment of the Japanese whisky revival, and as a consequence, it’s very likely easier and cheaper  to get your hands on a 21 year old Longrow  than it is to call yourself the owner of a bottle of Chichibu. I didn’t make this comparison undeliberate: Chichibu probably  is to Japanese whisky what Springbank is to Scotch.  A benchmark of quality, complexity and flavour. Or so I was often told as I never was able to get my hands on a bottle. The few that I did manage to catch in my crosshairs, mostly through auction sites, were gone before I could even focus on them properly, as they went for much more dinero than I was happy to part ways with.

Chichubu The London Edition. 2021 release, bottled for The Whisky Exchange. 51.5% ABV, outturn of 1859 bottles, app. £500

Seeing how Japanese whisky was all but ‘happening’, Chichibu started out relatively small – with a production capacity of some 60,000 LPA producing both peated and unpeated spirit. Relying mostly on manual labour, Chichibu has its  own cooperage on site and the capacity to do floor maltings to process local barley. It’s fair to say Ichiro arrived on the scene at exactly the right moment, as soon after he set up shop, Japanese whisky exploded. Rather than expanding the existing one, the decision was made to build a much larger (240000 LPA) second distillery (Chichibu 2) in close proximity of  the original one, which became operational in 2019. The second plant bears similarities (the same water is used, the same yeast types are used and the stills are larger but the same shape…) but by no means a copy – as a lot of the washing and fermenting is now (semi-) automated and the stills from Chichibu 2 are direct fired stills, whereas the original one relies on indirect – heated stills.

Given that this was a 2021 release, it’s safe to say this was distilled at Chichibu 1. A huge kudos is due to Gary Cobb for providing the sample! Thank you, sir!

Nose

A distinctive sweet and peaty nose, which is absolutely lovely. Gently smoky, but very clearly peaty, mixed in with sweetness from strawberry and confectionary notes. A whiff of antiseptic and medicinal notes; coastal (salinity and kelp) and halfway through there is something waxy and oily – like a mixture of wood oil and wood polish, linseed oil and varnish.  Given time, sour – citric  notes appear toning down the sweetness a bit, adding depth and complexity in the process. A young, spirt driven whisky, but there’s a lot going on.

Palate

Again that mixture of sweetness and peat. Little to no smoke as the emphasis (clearly) lies on the medicinal and ashy notes. Some spices (pepper, a touch of clove and some ginger) on a clinging, mouthcoating medium full body.  More sweet and sour notes from citrus (oranges and lemons). Lovely stuff!

Finish

Long, peppery and the  lingering and lingering on ashy notes.

Final thoughts

Excellent whisky! The reminiscence with Islay whisky is certainly there, but rather than being some flawed attempt at copying those, this one has its own character and profile. It comes across as a mixture of Caol Ila, Ardbeg and Laphroaig, but middle ground, it has this very crisp, very clean fruity – sweet  element running through it all that makes it different and special. The current asking price is ridiculous though, as I think it’s roughly 5 fold what it originally retailed for. A delightful whisky, and I consider myself fortunate to have tried it,  but I think I’ll hold off to chase one through secondary  on the off chance I might one day actually bag me some Chichibu  at MSRP.