Ichiro's Malt Malt & Grain Whisky

Ichiro Akuto is Japanese whisky royalty — heir to the Hanyu distilling family, the man behind the legendary Hanyu Card Series, and founder of Chichibu Distillery in Saitama Prefecture in 2008, built with the proceeds from those casks. The White Label Malt & Grain is his most accessible bottling and his most honest: a "world blended whisky," meaning Chichibu single malt married with malt and grain whiskies Ichiro sources from Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and the United States — aged three to five years in their home countries, then shipped to Chichibu's rack houses for one to three more years of Japanese maturation before blending. The philosophy, in his words, is the heart of Japanese whisky complemented by the major whiskies of the world. Bottled at 46.5% ABV. Expect toffee apple, caramel, milk chocolate, ground hazelnut, green banana, and a cereal-led palate of light fruits — apricot, peach, melon — moving through butterscotch, maple syrup, and crème caramel with pepper underneath, finishing medium-long with vanilla and dried tropical fruit. K&L found it clean and bigger on the palate than expected, with a long, bright finish — "a real treat." One reviewer picked up pot-still Irish character; another suspected a good dose of Canadian. The blend shifts year to year, which is part of the fun. The gateway to Chichibu, at a fraction of the single malt's price.

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