It started three centuries ago when Ichiro Akuto's grandfather began making alcoholic beverages in countryside of Saitama, Japan. His grandfather opened the now legendary Hanyu Distillery in the mid-1940's and began making malt whiskies. However, when the bubble burst in the 1990's, Hanyu distillery had to close their doors indefinitely. Ichiro saved his grandfathers' last remaining whisky casks and slowly released them in a variety of bottlings. His final release, The Playing Card Series, is now legendary with individual bottles being considered the unicorns of the Japanese whisky world.

With this success Ichiro saw that the revival of artisan Japanese whisky was imminent and opened his own distillery in the beautiful Chichibu region two hours west of Tokyo. Uniquely, Chichibu Distillery also built its own cooperage and floor malting facility on site. The distillery is also the only in the world to use 100% Mizunara Japanese oak wash backs.

This particular bottling is a single cask release that was distilled in 2014 and matured in a bourbon barrel before bottling in 2020. It brings an emphatic array of aromas and flavours to your nose and palate and they are all delivered with the ultimate smoothness. The label is adorned by a large, beautiful looking dog and with only 202 bottles produced, it's also highly collectible.

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