Color Espresso dark.
Nose Sulphur, streak of peat smoke. Prunes and sultana oranges. Metallic. Cedar woody like pencil shaving.
Palate Opens up with slightly bitter oak tannins and sulhpur followed by treacle coated dark fruit and a rich sweet sherry. A dash of citrus cleans up the palate.
Finish Good length with the tannic, sulphurous notes coming through in the bouquet of its lovely sherry creaminess.
Comment Nice sherry charcater, but not an overwhelmingly sherried whisky.

Hanyu Distillery was located in a town bearing its name on the banks of the Tone river. The original company was founded from a family business originally established in 1626 by the Akuto family, sake-makers in the town of Chichibu. Isouji Akuto, the 19th generation of the Akuto family, built a factory in Hanyu city, north-west of Tokyo, in 1941 to produce alcohol and obtained a licence to do so in 1946.

In 1980, serious attempts to produce a Scotch whisky-type product began and two pot stills were obtained. At the time, consumer demand was for blended whisky rather than single malt. Since then there has been a worldwide shift towards single malts and in 1990 Chichibu whisky was launched, named after the place where the sake was originally produced. It had two steam-heated stills and a continuous still, along with a Sake brewery.

Unfortunately it stopped making whisky in 2000, with the pot stills and distilling equipment dismantled in 2004. The grandson of the founder, Ichiro, purchased the mature stock and distilling facilities and hopes one day to start a new distillery. A dream that he is currently realising with his creation of the Chichibu Distillery.

<a href="/distilleries/the-hanyu-distillery">Read more about the Hanyu distillery here!</a>