Chichibu

Chichibu

(chee-CHEE-boo) Chichibu was founded by Ichiro Akuto and began distilling in 2008 in Saitama Prefecture, at a time when new Japanese whisky distilleries were still rare. Akuto had already made his name by rescuing casks from his family’s closed Hanyu distillery and bottling them as Ichiro’s Malt, so Chichibu arrived with a strong sense of continuity as well as a fresh start.

(chee-CHEE-boo) Chichibu was founded by Ichiro Akuto and began distilling in 2008 in Saitama Prefecture, at a time when new Japanese whisky distilleries were still rare. Akuto had already made his name by rescuing casks from his family’s closed Hanyu distillery and bottling them as Ichiro’s Malt, so Chichibu arrived with a strong sense of continuity as well as a fresh start.

About Chichibu

(chee-CHEE-boo) Chichibu was founded by Ichiro Akuto and began distilling in 2008 in Saitama Prefecture, at a time when new Japanese whisky distilleries were still rare. Akuto had already made his name by rescuing casks from his family’s closed Hanyu distillery and bottling them as Ichiro’s Malt, so Chichibu arrived with a strong sense of continuity as well as a fresh start.

Its first official whisky, Chichibu The First, was released in 2011, and the distillery quickly became one of the standout names in the modern revival of Japanese whisky.

Chichibu has built its reputation on small-scale production, careful cask selection and a style that combines clarity, fruit and spice with plenty of structure. Despite its relatively short history, it has become one of the most sought-after names in Japanese whisky, both through its own single malts and through the wider Ichiro’s Malt range. That mix of limited output, founder-led identity and the link back to Hanyu has given Chichibu a place in Japanese whisky that feels both modern and unusually well rooted in the past.

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