Japan, Saitama. Distillery operational. Owner: Venture Whisky.

Independent & family-ownedIt was in 2007 that Ichiro Akuto, grandson of the founder of the Hanyu distillery, built a new distillery in the north-west of Tokyo, in Saitama Prefecture. Named Chichibu, it brought to a close several decades marked by the closure of numerous production sites, and enabled Ichiro Akuto to renew his family's history of expertise. Despite its small size (production capacity of 80,000 LPA/yr), Chichibu quickly drew attention and became highly sought-after. It was under the name “New Born” that Ichiro sold exclusively his malt for three years. In 2011, the first edition of a small batch Chichibu named The First was released (7,400 bottles). It was immediately welcomed by distributors and the world's whisky enthusiasts, putting Chichibu on the fast-track to becoming a distillery with strong potential as a collectible. Since then, Ichiro has released numerous single casks to respond to consumer demand, increasing the distillery's appeal among collectors.

A single cask Chichibu (#3303) distilled in 2011 and bottled in 2015, aged in a beer cask. Ichiro Akuto has developed a number of partnerships with Japanese brewers. The concept is simple: they exchange barrels so beers can be aged in whisky casks and vice versa, before swapping and beginning the process again. These editions are extremely popular with fans of both beer and whisky, and other examples include a stout cask and an Indian Pale Ale (IPA) cask. A limited edition of 267 bottles for La Maison du Whisky.