On a quiet side street in Chichibu, a small city in western Saitama Prefecture, an amber glow is cast onto the surrounding nightscape from the latticed windows of a renovated 100-year-old kominka (traditional wooden home). And while many similar structures dotting the area retain remnants of their history as sericulture wholesalers during the late Taisho (1912-26) to early Showa (1926-89) eras, this particular building has a different story to tell.
This is the Highlander Inn Chichibu, a Scottish-style pub in the Japanese countryside. Underneath the pub’s sign, which is crafted from a whisky barrel, a pair of chōchin lanterns are inscribed with a major source of local pride: Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu Distillery. Among the pub’s regular patrons, in fact, is master distiller Ichiro Akuto himself — a Chichibu native who has become a global legend in the world of independent whisky makers.
Born into a local family who began brewing sake in the 16th century using the area’s pristine mountain waters, Akuto’s grandfather additionally began pursuing whisky-making by opening the Hanyu Distillery in Chichibu during the 1940s. His son followed suit, creating single malt whiskies after purchasing two stills from Scotland. Business was brisk until the 1990s, but the Akuto family ceased whisky production in 2000 amid declining sales. The company was sold, and when it became clear that whisky was not within the new buyer’s plans, Akuto bought back 400 casks of the family stock.
He launched a new company, Venture Whisky Ltd., and began operations at his Chichibu Distillery in 2008.
Akuto carved out a place for himself in the whisky world with his 2005 Ichiro’s Malt Card series — 54 single cask bottles from the Hanyu Distillery with unique logos for each based on a traditional deck of cards (plus two jokers). The whiskies have since become highly sought-after collector’s items, with a full set fetching a record-breaking $1.5 million (about ¥230 million) at a Hong Kong auction in 2020.
Akuto has continued to expand his global fan base as a superior distiller. Ichiro’s Malt whiskies have become prized not only for their complex flavor profiles but also for the thrill of procuring them, as his small-batch approach means that his whiskies are often snapped up from shelves nearly as soon as they appear.
A mizunara love story
The Chichibu Distillery is the only distillery in the world to use fermentation tanks crafted entirely from mizunara (Quercus crispula, also known as Japanese oak). Ichiro’s signature flavor profile of rich, woodsy flavors complemented by a clear fruitiness owes in large part to this tree.
Mizunara also features among the distillery’s lineup of maturation casks, and while the wood may be found in Chichibu’s forests, the mountainous terrain and high elevation make access difficult. In 2010, Akuto joined lumber auctions in Hokkaido, where efforts are still underway to thin the native mizunara forests.
Creating mizunara casks presents its own set of problems, however. The water-heavy wood takes four or five years to dry, while its porous, twisted branches make it extremely difficult to craft into workable planks. Akuto set up his own cooperage onsite, where the team split logs by axe to ensure watertight casking, fixing the occasional leak using nails.
These efforts have paid off abundantly with deeply complex flavor profiles. A dram of Ichiro’s Malt Double Distilleries from the leaf label series — which combines single malt, sherry cask-aged Hanyu whisky with Ichiro’s own single malt matured in mizunara casks — is faintly reminiscent of incense and rich tropical fruits like banana and toasted coconut.
Domestic mizunara casking is still a rarity, however. The Chichibu Distillery imports 90% of its casks, which include American white oak used previously for bourbon, Spanish oak for sherry and French oak for wine. Besides single malts, Akuto also crafts blends from whiskies that he sources from around the globe. Ichiro’s Malt & Grain World Blended Whisky, which includes his own whisky along with those from Canada, Ireland, Scotland and the United States, has refreshing notes of candied lemon that round out into a lingering sweet finish tinged with burnt caramel.
The whisky-making process at the Chichibu Distillery begins with malted barley, among which some 20% is a nutty, chewy local version known as Sachiho Golden sourced from nearby farms and sometimes malted in house.
“Distilleries normally ask local farmers for barley, but in our case, they came to us and offered,” explains Venture Whisky global brand ambassador Yumi Yoshikawa.
The other 80% is imported from England, Germany or Australia, along with a peated version from the Scottish Highlands that infuses some of the distillery’s whiskies with an additional layer of intense smokiness.
The malted barley is crushed into grist, which is then mashed along with hot water in 2,000-liter tanks — small by industry standards — using a largely manual process that Yoshikawa explains is similar to dripping coffee. After sugars are extracted, the resulting wort mixture is sent to the mizunara tanks for fermentation, with leftovers given to local farms for use as animal feed.
The fermentation period is 120 to 130 hours — far longer than many other distilleries — allowing for a deep infusion of the mizunara’s lactic acid bacteria into the developing whisky.
“The fermentation process is very important for creating character and flavor components,” Yoshikawa says. “If you cannot do this, you’ll get nothing during distillation, which is a process of concentration. It will be drinkable like water but will be completely lacking in character.”
Distillation occurs in two pear-shaped copper pot stills created by Forsyths of Scotland, and, based on numerous factors including temperature, fermentation time and flavor, a middle cut takes place before the second distillation to select the best part for maturation in casks.
Yoshikawa explains that the company has two distilleries in the Chichibu area, where seven warehouses store a total of 25,000 casks for maturation.
“This may seem like a lot of casks, but it actually isn’t. Each cask has its own flavor and history, and the more you have, the more complex the blends. The combination of cask and whisky creates such interesting stories.”
Community collaborations
Numerous innovative projects have sprung from the Chichibu Distillery, including reusing wood from used casks to create smoke chips for barbecuing, (sold in shops throughout Chichibu) as well as a collaboration with Tago Studio in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, to create environmentally friendly headphones.
There’s also the Chichibu Whisky Matsuri held each February, where the entire town goes into full whisky-fueled festivity mode. And although distillery tours are not available to the general public, Seibu Railways’ 52 Seats of Happiness train connecting Ikebukuro and Chichibu stations periodically offers a special group tour program that includes a Chichibu Distillery tour, plus an overnight stay in one of the local renovated kominka (upcoming tours are scheduled for December 2024 and January 2025).
Whether via group tour or independent visit, sampling Ichiro’s Malt within the pastoral milieu where it is produced is arguably one of the best ways to enjoy the whisky. Bottles are sold in shops around town, and glasses are available at local restaurants and bars including the Highlander Inn Chichibu.
Yoshikawa herself was instrumental in bringing the inn to Chichibu — thereby saving the historical kominka from its proposed fate of being razed to create a parking lot. She had previously worked at its headquarters in Craigellachie, Scotland, from 2011 to 2013, and after deciding to return to Japan, she sent Akuto a letter describing her passion for whisky and asking for his tutelage at the Chichibu Distillery. He accepted, and she began learning the craft of production — later working for both the distillery and the Highlander Inn Chichibu following its 2019 opening.
“COVID-19 hit shortly thereafter, and we really struggled,” she recalls. “But alcohol sales restrictions allowed us to focus on developing our food menu, and the inn became popular among neighborhood residents.”
Among Ichiro’s future plans are a third distillery in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, using local corn and other grains, set to be functional by spring 2025. More than anything, making whisky more appealing to the younger generation is a priority — something that Yoshikawa is already busy doing through workshops and seminars, where she also encourages cooperation within the industry.
“Ichiro’s position as a craft whisky maker puts him in a separate category outside of the existing rivalries between giants like Nikka and Suntory, which is helping to break down barriers,” she explains. “In 10 to 20 years, the industry will be a much more open place.”