Chichibu
The Chichibu distillery is a Japanese whisky distillery founded in 2004 by Ichiro Akuto and has been in operation since 2008. It’s the first new Japanese distillery to be built since 1973 and is located in the Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
Ichiro Akuto’s passion and skill for whisky production was passed on to him by his grandfather who in 1941, founded the legendary (now closed) Hanyu distillery whose last casks are stored and bottled in Chichibu. From these super rare and elusive last stocks recovered from Hanyu, Ichiro Akuto created the ‘Hanyu Card Series’ line whose whiskies are highly sort after by collectors. He’s also released a core range of whiskies that test traditional conventions and the distillery has become a key player in Japanese whisky production.