Ichiro Akutos most voluminous and accessible Whisky is, as it says on the label, a blend of Malt and Grain Whiskies. While the exact source of the material is not published, we know its a blend of Japanese distilled material vatted with whiskies sourced from around the world.

In addition to Whisky from his own stocksincluding, potentially, Hanyu and Karuizawa, as well as his own Chichibuthe blend contains spirits from Canada, the United States, Ireland and Scotland.

The imported Whiskeys are 3-5 years old, aged in their country of origin before being carefully blended with local Japanese material and matured a further 1-3 years at Chichibu.

The Whisky is vatted in 2 x 5,000-litre wooden barrels built by French cooper Taransaud. Non-chill filtered, non-coloured.

TastingNotes:

Nose: On the nose you are happy to welcome the sweet notes of butterscotch, stone fruit, toasted cereals and malt, banana, as well as a hint of pale straw.

Palate: Light, elegant and sweet, you are greeted with toffee, roasted chestnuts, lemon zest, gingerbread, banana and vanilla notes of barley malt.

“The nose first brings sweetness–think vanilla, toffee, and brown sugar. Fruit aromas of banana and apricot join in. On the palate, the vanilla grows more intense with toffee, pepper, ginger, and citrus following closely. Bananas re-emerge during the medium, sweet finish alongside notes of mango and grapefruit.” – George Koutsakis, Distiller