Chichibu Ichiro’s Malt & Grain Whisky

About Ichiro’s Malt

For nearly three centuries, Ichiro Akuto’s family brewed sake along the banks of the Tone River in Central Japan. Following the end of World War II, his family received a distiller’s license and purchased two second-hand stills from a Scottish distillery. By the turn of the century, however, his father had made the difficult decision to dismantle the stills and sell the 400 casks of remaining whisky that were still maturing in the distillery’s rickhouses.

Fueled by a belief in the potential for Japanese single malts, Ichiro purchased the casks from his father. He went to study distillation techniques at Benriach and Springbank Distillery, before returning to Japan and constructing a state-of-the-art distillery in Chichibu, the Saitama prefecture. The small distillery opened its doors in 2008 and has only 9 full-time employees. The climate of Chichibu with its hot and humid summers and cold winter temperatures is perfect for distilling whisky, while the famous Arakawa River provides excellent water. The distillery imported the equipment as well as the peat from Scotland, while the malt and barley come from England and Germany. Their current output is around 90,000 liters per year.