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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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February 7, 2019 |
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Love love love Chichibu! Now they’re also rather in the process of doing an Arranladdich these days, meaning that they seem to be finishing their splendid distillate in just any kind of casks that exist on this wee planet. I suppose they must! Anyway, let’s first have some proper clean Chichibu, and then some stuff that even Austin Powers may have seen as… a little bit whacky. To me, the equivalent to Hawaiian pizza if you like, yep that’s the one with pineapple… |
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Chichibu 2011/2018 (58.8%, OB, for La Maison du Whisky, Chronicles, first fill bourbon barrel, cask #1296, 216 bottles) 
Colour: straw. Nose: typical lemon (I won’t mention yuzu) and oak dust at first, then rather citrons and vanilla, with half a coconut ball. I’m sure it’s more complex, but as always, water will be needed to bring the tinier aromas out. With water: ah yes, breads, softer spices, much less new oak, touches of hand cream (Dior, naturally Charlize), ripe gooseberries, and some fresh homemade custard. Mouth (neat): fat and spicy at first, with a lot of ginger and cinnamon, then touches of salt and miso (sorry I can’t help), as well as more yuzu and bergamots. Feels more European oak than American, and yet it’s well ex-bourbon. At which strength are they filling at Chichibu? With water: yep, works once more. Lemons, ginger, spearmint, lemon curd, a little green tea. Finish: rather long, and even more on green tea. A rather complex one, with wee bits of chen pi inside. We’re well in Asia. Comments: a young distillate full of citrus and oak spices. Something Thai, I would say.
SGP:561 - 86 points. |
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Chichibu 2011/2018 (60%, OB, for La Maison du Whisky, Chronicles, Burgundy wine cask finish, cask #5080, 210 bottles) 
Always beware pinot noir in whisky! Now agreed, could have been merlot ;-). Colour: apricot. Nose: it’s okay, the whisky’s rather safe, even if you could sometimes mistake it for some fiery young armagnac. Tomato leaves, prunes, blackcurrant buds, geranium flowers (not stems ort leaves, no worries), plus some garden peat and black humus. Whiffs of old pu-erh, not bad, not bad. With water: no real changes, perhaps a few more leaves. Mouth (neat): much, and I mean more oak. Loads of leaves and stems, sour teas, heavy liquorice… With water: sure there’s a feeling of readymade cocktail but it’s a rather fine oak-led winesky. Black bread, cherry stem tea… Finish: rather long, a little drying. Tomato leaves, more cassis. Comments: we’ve seen much worse and I can see why someone would enjoy this quite a lot, but you need to be into heavy French oak, I would say.
SGP:371 - 79 points. |
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Chichibu 2011/2018 (57.4%, OB, for La Maison du Whisky, Chronicles, Belgian stout cask finish, cask #4548, 250 bottles) 
Excuse me, but LOL! While wondering about what dear Michael Jackson would have said… Now, grain + grain sounds more legit than grain + grape, doesn’t it? Colour: gold. Nose: a pleasant concoction that’s even more on the earthy side, with this fattish sourness that reminds us of beer, and then many more fruits than in the previous ones. Cherries, strawberries, blackberries… Some kind of fresher fruitcake, in other words. Not exactly whisky, but this Belgo-Japanese cocktail seems to work. With water: more fruity hops-heavy IPA than stout! And meadow flowers. Mouth (neat): I like! It’s beer-heavy, really, and at some point I do think of Brewdog’s cold-distilled beer (that was mad!) but indeed there are very nice notes of overripe bananas and strawberries that are pretty sexy. With water: I wouldn’t have thought the beer would totally dominate the whisky. But it’s a very nice beer, really… Finish: long, on tangerine-y hops. Isn’t it called Citra or something? Comments: full of fun. Now I wouldn’t call this whisky, someone might have to find another name. Nope, too busy elsewhere.
SGP:651 - 83 points. |
Crazy Chichibu! One for the road now… |
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Ichiro’s Malt & Grain (59.7%, OB for 10th anniversary of Whisky Boutique Claude, bourbon barrel, cask #8259, 245 bottles, 2018)
Said to be a blend of Chichibu with some old Kawasaki grain. Whisky Claude is a whisky shop in Gifu, central Japan. As it happens, my second name is Claude, ha! Colour: gold. Nose: really smooth and rounded, creamy, on butter fudge and fresh brioche, vanilla, grated coconut, and really a lot of grain. Sweet maize, popcorn… With water: loads of freshly sawn oak. IKEA. Mouth (neat): really good, almost totally un-fruity, and ridden with pastries of all kinds. Cinnamon rolls, croissants, panettone, more popcorn, a touch of light rum (Havana Club)… With water: spicier, rather gingery. Cinnamon and a little curry, cloves (Gudang Garam), oak, caraway… Finish: rather long, all on sweet spices. Comments: some oak-led blend, a style never to be seen in Scotland. Indeed, it’s typically Japanese. Very good but not quite my favourite style.
SGP:361 - 78 points. |
(Merci beaucoup Alex and Jose!) |
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