Chichibu On the Way

Ichiro Akuto, grandson of the founder of the Hanyu distillery, decided in 2007 to build a new whisky distillery in the town of Chichibu, 100 kilometers northwest of Tokyo.

Located near the old Hanyu distillery, the local climate with harsh winters and hot & humid summers, gives a certain maturity to the whiskies produced in Chichibu despite their relative young age (production started in 2008).

A small distillery, Chichibu produces in small quantities, but the remaining stocks of Hanyu, Kawasaki and Karuizawa, now exhausted but having been housed there, have allowed Ichiro Akuto to compose rare and exceptional blends. In 2020, the first of Ichiro Akuto's dreams came true with the first 10 year old single malt distilled, aged and blended in Chichibu and a long history beginning to be written.