Déjà vu all over again

Five years ago, in the summer of 2014, I visited Chichibu Distillery in Japan for the first time. You can read all about that adventure in the all-time most read article here on Whisky Saga. I consider that article my first love letter to Chichibu. Reading that article you will hardly be surprised that I went back for a second visit this summer (2019). So, what you have here is my second love letter to the wonder that is Chichibu.

My affection for Chichibu started before that visit in the summer of 2014 though. It all started with my tasting the Chichibu Newborn Heavily Peated and Chichibu The First back in 2013.

One of the old stills from the Hanyu Distillery. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Chichibu Distillery was founded in 2007 and started production in 2008. Ichiro Akuto is the owner, Distillery Manager and Master Distiller. Through his company Ichiro's Malt he famously released the now legendary Hanyu Playing Card Series. At the distillery they also produce and sell a number of fine blends and vatted blends under the brand Ichiro’s Malt.

Chichibu still does not have a visitor center, any visit will have to be arranged beforehand.

The office building which also holds the samples and tasting area. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

The long and winding road

Visiting Chichibu requires time and dedication. First of all you have to get to Japan, which is well worth it in itself! Typically you will then find yourself in Tokyo, and from there you can arrange a day trip to Chichibu. The two most likely routes are by train:

Seibu Railway (“red arrow”) from Ikebukuro Station, Tokyo to Seibu Chichibu Station
- The trip takes 79 minutes, no change of trains
- Hourly departures both ways
- 1480 yen for a one way fare (why would you ever want to leave?)
JR train from Tokyo Station, transfer in Kumagaya, and arrival at Chichibu Station
- Take the Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Kumagaya (35 mins)
- Transfer to the Chichibu Railway for Chichibu (70 minutes, 860 yen)
- If you have the JR Travel Pass the Shinkansen part of the trip is “free”. See my Japan - Survival Guide for the Whisky Drinker.

Please note that the two options above end up at different train stations in Chichibu! It is just a few minutes walk between the two though, so no worries if you find yourself at the wrong one when going home.

From the station you best bet is to take a taxi to the distillery. The address for the distillery is 49 Midorigaoka, Chichibu-shi, Saitama-ken, and the trip takes around 20 minutes. Be prepared though, the taxi drivers typically do not understand English in Chichibu (unlike what you find in Tokyo). If you say list the names “Chichibu”, “Whisky” and “Ichiro Akuto” you should be good.

Arrival

The distillery is located a bit outside of the town, as mentioned. It is a relatively modest setup - well, the original distillery is - more on that later.

A total of 23 people are employed at the company. Eight in production, five at the new Chichibu #2 distillery (again more on this later), four at the cooperage.

Production is approximately 60 000 lpa.

When I arrived I was met by Yumi Yoshikawa, global brand ambassador for the distillery, and distiller Taro Okuyama. Taro was to be my guide for the day. He turned out to be both eager, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. He has worked as an assistant to Ichiro in production for about five years.

The tour

Taro took me on a very detailed tour of the distillery, where I got to poke my nose everywhere and ask questions for as long as I liked. What follows is a summary of facts and pictures, then in the end I have details on the Chichibu #2 distillery and the cooperage.

Malt

All the peated barley used (so far) is imported from Scotland (Crisp Malt). The unpeated barley they import is mainly from England and Germany. About 10 % of the malt going into production is local barley malted at their own maltings.

They only produce unpeated malt at their own maltings. The amount will most like not increase beyond 10 % of the total going forward. The local barley has a slightly lower production yield.

Taro going into detail. I might have asked a weird question here.. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Milling

16 bags of 25 kg malt (400 kg total) makes up one production batch. In the end one batch will result in approximately 200 litres of new make. The proportions in milling → 20 % husk, 70 % grist , 10 % flour.

Mashing

They have one mashtun with a 2400 litres capacity, which is filled with 2000 litres of mash. They hand stir the mash using wooden paddles! So 1600 litres of water and 400 kg of grist is mixed.

Three waters are added, and the temperatures are 64 degrees, 76 degrees and 96 degrees. The third water goes back and is used as the first water for the next batch. By the way, 96 degrees is as high as it goes as they are at an elevation of 250 metres.

The resulting draff is sold off to local farmers, and beef from cattle raised on the draff can be had at local Chichibu restaurants. I have not had a chance to taste this yet, but this is certainly on my todo list for my next visit.

The eight washbacks. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Fermentation

The distillery has eight washbacks, each with a capacity of 3177 litres and all made from Mizunara oak. Yes, that is crazy, but super cool. Each washback is filled with 2000 litres wort, and then 10 kgs of yeast is added. A Japanese produced distiller's yeast is used.

What follows then is a four day fermentation period. The resulting wash is at around 7 % ABV. It smells quite acidic, both sour and lactic a bit like a lambic beer.

The insides - where it all happens. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Taro told me there will be a slightly different condition in each washback due to the temperature, which results in eight slightly different washes. Also they have found that there are different bacteria thriving in in Mizunara wood compared to Oregon pine (or French oak as used in Chichibu #2).

Details from one of the washbacks. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Distillation

The wash still has a capacity of 2000 litres, and the output is 700 litres at 21-23 % ABV. The spirit still is the same size, and is charged with around 1000 litres -> 700 litres from the wash still and 300+ litres from the head and tails of the previous run in the spirit still.

The head is approximately 18 minutes, the heart around 90 minutes, and the tails 3-4 hours. The cut points are always decided by nosing and tasting, due to the slight differences in the wash.

The final output is 200 litres of newmake at around 70 % ABV.

Me, happy? Nooo, really? (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Detail shot of the stills. Copper is beautiful! (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Maturation

All the newmake produces is casked at 63.5 %, and they currently have 8000 casks maturing on site. There are five warehouses at the original site and a large sixth warehouse on the site of the new Chichibu #2 distillery. All the warehouses are of the dunnage type.

The holy grail - cask no. 1 - hiding away in a corner. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

About 80-90 % of the casks are ex-bourbon barrels. They experience an angel’s share of 3-5 %, with a climate that gives an ambient temperature varying between +30-35 C in the summer and as low as -10 C in the winter.

The wonderful French oak egg. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Marrying tanks and bottling

Different, massive marrying tanks are used for producing the different Ichiro’s Malt blended malts and blends.

A beautiful 2000 litre French oak egg is used for the Ichiro’s Malt Wine Wood Reserve (red label), a blended malt.
Three 10 000 litres French Oak vessels are used for the Ichiro’s Malt and Grain worldwide blended whisky (white label).
One 10 000 litres American oak vessel used for the Ichiro’s Malt and Grain worldwide blended whisky (blue label)

The Ichiro’s Malt Double Distilleries (green label) is the only core product that they do not use a wooden marrying tank for. One batch of the Double Distilleries now contains about 30 casks of Chichibu and 1 cask of Hanyu.

The bottle all their own products on site, producing around 1800 bottles per day, five days a week.

The massive marrying tanks. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Imported spirit

For the worldwide blended whisky products (see above), they have so far only imported whisky that is a minimum of 3 YO. All is imported in bulk, casked and then matured for a further period which depends on their needs.

Recently they have imported some 8 months old spirit for the first time. This will of course require a longer period of maturation locally.

Chichibu #2 - the 2nd distillery

After the tour Taro was kind enough to drive me over to the brand new Chichibu #2 distillery. The drive between the two sites is just a few minutes. Production had not yet started when I was there, test runs were being planned. Due to the distillery not officially being opened I was not allowed inside. So there I have yet another reason to back once again.

The entrance to Chichibu #2. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Production at Chichibu #2 started in September this year. The capacity at the new distillery is five times that of the original distillery, so a total of 240 000 lpa.

The stills are of the same shape as the original ones, but much larger. The wash still is at 10 000 litres and the spirit still is 7000 litres large. The stills are again produced at Forsyths in Scotland.

Chichibu #2 and warehouse #6. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Apart from the still sizes there are a couple of major differences between the two distilleries:

The washbacks at Chichibu #2 are made of French oak, not Mizunara. They are starting off with five washbacks, but this will increase over time.
The stills will utilize direct heating, where the original distillery uses indirect heating

They will use the same yeast at Chichibu #2.

The cooperage

Taro also drove me to their cooperage, which is also nearby the distillery. Here they produce 4-5 Mizunara casks per week. This is meticulous work, to say the least. Mizunara is a notoriously difficult wood to work with. It is prone to leak, so production requires patience and skill.

Master Cooper Kenta showing off a few of the new casks. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

I was told mizu means water and nara means oak, as I was given a tour of the cooperage by the master cooper, Kenta. he also told me that all the casks they produce are heavily charred (alligator char).

Meticulous work plugging all the tiny leaks in a Mizunara cask. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

They purchase the Mizunara oak from other parts on Hokkaido, and air dry it for three years. Recently they have also started sourcing locally grown Mizunara from the Chichibu area and have built the first casks with this wood.

Spacious and orderly - the cooperage. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Details from the cooperage. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

More details from the cooperage. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Just behind the cooperage. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Tasting a few drams

There was time to taste a few drams as well, and I was very happy with that. No reviews for these drams, of course, but I can promise you it was a great experience. Tasting very close to 10 years old Chichibu was a unique experience. Also tried newmake made with local barley, which promises more great products for the future.

One of many great products released previously. (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Very close to 10 YO Chichibu. Fantastic stuff! (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Tasting Chichibu local barley! (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Conclusion

This visit to Chichibu Distillery was just as great as my first visit. I’m smiling just writing these words. If you ever get the chance, do visit them. If not, then seek out their products and experience first hand the wonder that is Chichibu.

Samples, samples, glorious samples! (Photo: Whisky Saga)

Massive thanks to Ichiro, Yumi, Taro and Kenta. Hope to see you again soon!

Sláinte!
- Thomas

Visiting Chichibu Distillery - once more with feeling

Déjà vu all over again

The long and winding road

Arrival

The tour