Chichibu On The Way Bot.2019

Billy Abbott, The Whisky Exchange

• Nose

  Fruit, fruit and more fruit – the fruitiest Chichibu I’ve ever tried. Sweet apples, just-ripe pears, fresh pineapple, plump sultanas, dessert grapes and dried apricot. Coconut cream and a dusting of desiccated coconut follow, with buttery pastry and a touch of double cream not far behind. Hints of polished oak and spring-meadow honeysuckle develop.

• Palate

  Rich and rounded, with sweet butter and buttery pastry dipping into lightly stewed fruit: the apples and pears from the nose with a sprinkling of dried pineapple. Sake-like notes of white melon and strawberry laces build, with yeasty touches and malted milk biscuits. Soft spice sits at the back.

• Finish

  Green grass and flaky-pastry-topped apple pies. Gentle char notes develop with a touch of tannic pear skin.

• Comment

  My favourite Chichibu in a long while. We don’t know the exact cask makeup of the bottling, but I agree with TWE co-founder Sukhinder that there is almost definitely some IPA cask in the mix – the layers of fruit with a touch of yeastiness definitely go in that direction. Combine that with carefully controlled oak influence, and you’ve got a winner. I really hope that the ongoing Chichibu takes after this style. If so, I’ll be a regular customer.