Ichiro's Malt & Grain
What a blend!
Let me start with the big elphant in the room:
This whisky sounds Japanese, but it is a Japanese blend. Not 100% Japanese whisky.
It actually contains whisky from Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the US. And a small part Japanese.
What makes this dram so special, is that it is a NAS whisky coming in batches from a solera system. This is however, not a big cask of European oak, but a big marrying cask made of Japanese Mizunara oak. Giving the final product its unique style.
Every cask poured into this big cask is personally selected by Ichiro Akuto, founder of Chichibo and it is his name on the label. His Malt&Grain.
This Malt & Grain is one of the core range whiskies brought out by Chichibu and is actually there starter whisky.
With this small introcution
This NAS blended world whisky is non-chillfiltered and non-colored.
It is bottled at 46,5% Vol.
The color is a warm golden honey yellow and a twirl around the glass leaves it sticking to the sides as if it actually is a thinned honey.
On the nose I get malts en grains. Yes, seriously. But also some biscuits, thick vanilla with burned sugar. Think crème brûlée, just after the torch has caramelised the sugar on top of the custard. But after all the yellow stuff, (Vanilla, honey, citrus, custard) we turn towards red and autumn colors: Strawberries, blackberries and some faint hints of tobacco. A final note lingers more around orange: sweet tangerines.
The palate starts with some spices but those are being caught up by a small alcohol burn. After that small interruption, the notes of the nose are being repeated on the tongue. I keep having the tangerine peels as one that lingers through it all.
The finish is medium long and actually adds different notes to my writings. From sweet and fruity we get something a little salty, almost like salted caramel dark chocolate. And it leaves a warm sweet/sour note on the side of my tongue that teases me into the next sip. Lovely dram, made a great pairing with a nicely grilled Ribeye Steak!
