Tag Archives: Ichiro Akuto

Ichiro’s Malt & Grain Limited Edition 48%abv

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P1050370Nose: Apple pie, sweet corn, white pepper, honey, vanilla, toffee, sawdust.
Palate: Baking spices, apple danish, salt, sweetened lemons, fresh ginger, white pepper, banana, sawdust, raisins.
Finish: Banana, apple danish, white pepper, sawdust.
Last Word: This is a blend of Chichibu Single Malt Whisky and grain whisky from unknown distilleries outside of Japan. Certainly a step up from the Ichiro’s Malt & Grain White Label but lets compare it to someone Japanese fully homegrown blends. I paid 9000 yen for the Ichiro’s Premium in Japan. At the moment in Japan you can buy Nikka Premium Blend 12YO for around Y5000 and Nikka Whisky From The Barrel Y2500 and IMO both are superior. Suntory Hibiki Harmony Masters Select(travel exclusive)for roughly Y9000 and again I wouldn’t hesitate to say superior the Ichiro’s hybrid blend.

Rating: 82/100

Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu IPA Cask Finish 2017 57.5%abv

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P1050322Nose: The IPA cask influence shows it’s hand straight off the bat. Some maltiness and very hoppy/fruity. There is a dustiness like dust covered old oak barrels. Orange peel, peach skin and yeast. Incense which grows stronger with water.
Palate: Lots of malt and hops. Some big hot spices. The dry dustiness, orange peel on the verge of going moldy, sugared grapefruit. Water adds salt, lemon zest and citrus tart. For mine water is a must with this whisky to subdue the hot spices which are a little out of balance and to add some nuance.
Finish: Fairly short on the malt and hoppy/fruity flavors.
Last Word: The casks first contain Chichibu whisky, then refilled with IPA beer from a number of different IPA craft breweries before being refilled with Chichibu whisky for finishing.
The Chichibu quality is there but the final product is extremely cask forward in profile and for my tastes maybe a little too much so. Almost like a novelty whisky.

Rating: 85/100

Ichiro’s Malt Card Series Full Set Of 58 Bottles For Sale At Auction

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Ichiro's Malt Card Series
Offered for sale for the first time is a full set of 58 bottles of Ichiro’s Malt Card Series as part of Sotheby’s Hong Kong Finest and Rarest Wine Auction this Friday and Saturday 29-30th of September.
For those who are trying to figure out how a deck of cards is 58 it’s not. Just so happens that back in the day Ichiro Akuto bottled and sold a about a quarter of the whisky from 4 different single casks then later bottled and sold the rest of the whisky from these casks. The casks used became the Ace of Spades, the Queen of Hearts, the King of Diamonds and the Jack of Clubs hence double bottling’s of these cards and the total number in the series as 58.
Price guide for the full set of Ichiro’s Malt Card Series is from a ridiculously low US$256,000 to US$512,000.
As a set of 54 cards without the 4 doubles sold at auction a couple of years ago for US480,000 I personally expect the upper range of the price guide to not only be reached but exceeded.
So if your a wealthy whisky collector here is a rare opportunity, for the rest of us we have a few days to win the lottery.

**Update: Lot sold for US$455,000 so it seems prices have stabilized or even declined a little.

Chichibu For Tokyo International Bar Show 2015 French Oak Cask #2360 62.3%abv

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P1050314Nose: Cinnamon coated Danish apple pastry, apricot jam, ginger bread, toffee’d oak, pouch tobacco. A salty maritime not like fresh shellfish. After a while a floral note, even more so with water added.
Palate: OK, while there is some big spicy punch on the palate there is zero burn on the way down which speaks of quality distillation. There is the Danish apple pastry, Krispy Kreme original glazed donuts. The spices are a cross between baking spices of cinnamon and nutmeg and some ginger and pepper heat. The peppery spice then mixes in with some salt. Water brings out Maltesers and tangy orange.
Finish: Starts out with the the salt and pepper combo, nutmeg, Maltesers, then leather and pouch tobacco. This finish is loooooong, the pepper and salt bounces back after 5 minutes with a vengeance with just enough toffee/malt to balance. A Yoichi like Chichibu in many ways. Impressive!
Last Word: This is the most complex Chichibu I’ve tried and amazingly so for only 6 years old. My new favorite Chichibu! Recommended!

Rating: 90/100

Chichibu One The Way 2015 55.5%abv

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P1050274Nose: Mushrooms, dried pears, fresh cut timber, figs, apple sauce, malt. After some time(with water) white flowers.
Palate: Really does need a decent amount of water. Fermented pears, baked apples, uncooked mushrooms, nutmeg, barley, marzipan, menthol, a little smoke.
Finish: Pepper and nutmeg, malt, fermented pears, a mineral element. The fresh cut timber makes a return adding quite a bit dryness at the very end.
Last Word: Not really a favorite Chichibu and neither was the 2013 On the Way. This one is a slight improvement. Lacks any elements to make it stand out or make me want to pour another straight away. It’s youngish and you can taste it which may sound obvious, but there have been other Chichibu I have tasted where you would be very hard pressed to guess the age.

Rating: 82/100