Chichibu 2010 Single Cask [Road to #1000, Review #988]

Hi everyone,

Chichibu is a fascinating distillery for me, because the whisky is delicious and crazy good at such a young age.

I really don’t know how they do it. Perhaps it’s the attention to detail and the intense focus on quality? Or the Mizunara oak washbacks? Super good casks? All of the above maybe.

Problem is, it’s also crazy hard to get hold of and if you do find it, it’ll cost you a bomb for a full bottle.

So when I saw that this one was over eight years old and a reasonable price at a bar in California, I knew I had to taste it. It didn’t disappoint…

Chichibu 2010 Single Cask 60.6%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Complex, you’ve just walked into a high end carpenters, with polished and sawn oak, some malt, light orange peel. Seemed standard to start with, more complex as it opens up.

Taste: Oily and malty, golden raisin, hefty and supple, amazing here. All about form, structure and mouthfeel. Old whisky white pepper spice.

Finish: Long length. More complexly woody, more carpenters workshop here, dry and again way way older than it’s years.

Bottled 2018 at 8yo for US market. Like a 70’s Bourbon matured Macallan. Which is insane… I really don’t understand how they pack this much maturity into a whisky this young.

85/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Japanese Review #23

Whisky Network Review #988

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Hanyu, Chichibu & Mars: TWE Show Report

Hi everyone,

One stand at the whisky show in particular was very interesting. It was the Chichibu, Mars, Hanyu stand. Mr Ichiro himself was there for a masterclass and was down at the table serving. These really surprised me with the quality, especially the Mars, at such young ages.

If you don’t know the story, Hanyu was a Japanese distillery owned by a Mr Ichiro, Hanyu was unfortunately closed and his son built a new distillery near the site: Chichibu.

First one I tried was the Hanyu. I’d been curious as to why these go for thousands of pounds.

 

Ichiro's Malt 15yo Hanyu 46.5%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Perfumed, floral, lemonade, gummy bears.

Taste: Soft, lemonade, almost fizzy citrus, under ripe orange, lovely.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Orange/lime and lemonade.

This is good quality, the fizzy lemonade thing is quite unique, but I don’t really see why it commands ridiculous prices.

78/100

Then came the Chichibu, bottled for the Whisky Exchange, vintage 2009. One of the oldest Chichibu’s released so far.

Chichibu 2009 TWE Exclusive 61.4%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Sweet grain, light fresh fruit, light oak, lovely floral notes, floral oak.

Taste: Intense, sweet fresh fruit, pineapple and mango, white pepper, oily.

Finish Medium length. Spiced, oak, some fruit.

Great whisky for 7 years old, bottled 2016. These were selling for £140ish, not sure if they were available on the day. I thought that was too much but I later saw them go at auction for £450!

82/100

And then it was onto another new Japanese distillery. Well, Mars was actually running though the 80’s and 90’s I think but was then closed sometime in the late 1990’s. Anyway, they’ve recently reopened.

 

Mars Komagatake (Pink flower on box) 52%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Balanced and integrated, tropical fruit, oriental spice, nutmeg.

Taste: Oily, fruity, sweet, creamy, wonderful tropical fruit, spice.

Finish: Medium length. Soft, amazing balance, sweet.

This is from old and new Mars stock. Lovely stuff, shame that the price is very high (£120). But that’s just what you pay for Japanese whisky these days.

85/100

Then the gentleman on the stand convinced me to try a 3 year old peated single cask. Really expected a huge peat monster at 50ppm, but was very surprised to find little smoke on it.

Mars 2013 Single Cask 59.8%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Sweet liquorice, aniseed, slight floral smoke.

Taste: Soft arrival, building tropical fruit, spice and oak, oily.

Finish: Long length. More oak, spice, and a little less tropical fruit than the taste.

Peated to 50ppm, 3 years old but incredible for that age.

84/100

These few whiskies have really opened my eyes to just how good the Japanese whiskies can be, even at a young age. Chichibu and Mars are going to continue evolving and will probably be fantastic in the future. Unfortunately, they probably won’t be very available and therefore prices are quite high.

Reviews #224-#227

Network Average: 75.8

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent