In 2008, Chichibu Distillery was opened by founder, Ichiro Akuto, and it was the first new distillery to open in Japan in 3 decades. Chichibu distillery is a comprehensive operation and very much a true craft distillery. They do much of the work by hand and have an in-house cooperage to make their own barrels. They try to use local ingredients, yields permitting, but also source barley from abroad and peated barley from Scotland. They are committed to using local as much as possible and create a varying assortment of styles of whisky to intrigue and excite any whisky enthusiast, while keeping tradition intact and innovating for the future. Recently a second Chichibu distillery opened, which will increase the whisky output and have it more readily available.

The Distillery
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Situated in Saitama Prefecture

Chichibu distillery opened in 2008. A small distillery with a truly craft operation, using local ingredients whenever yields make it possible, and all work is done by hand, including labeling of the bottles. It’s a small team that is dedicated to this operation from growing barley to floor malting and to coopering mizunara barrels. This hands-on approach allows excellent quality control and allows the team to stay within tradition but also experiment and innovate, whenever possible, in creating exciting styles of whiskies. The original small Chichibu distillery is small with an annual output of 60,000 litres per annum. A second distillery has now opened, with that having 240,000 litres of annual production, which will allow the highly sought after Chichibu whiskies to be readily available in more global markets.

The People
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The Akuto family has been brewing Sake in the town of Chichibu since 1625, so Chichibu owner, Ichiro Akuto, was born into this business. His grandfather owned the famed Hanyu Distillery, which closed in the year 2000, and in order to salvage the stocks of whiskies aging in the Hanyu cellars, Ichiro took them and stored them for his Chichibu Distillery. Once the Chichibu distillery opened, he was able to use the aged whiskies to blend them into the famed Ichiro’s Malt Card Series, which gave Ichiro world recognition and fame. Chichibu is run by a small team that is dedicated to the operation, from growing barley to floor malting and to coopering mizunara barrels. With the addition of a second distillery recently, the team has now grown but the same hands-on work and quality assurance is applied to ensure the quality level is maintained.