Single Malt Whisky, Japan/Honshu – Saitama

Every year since 2018, the Chichibu distillery, founded by Ichiro Akuto in 2008, has created a blend dedicated to the City of Lights: Chichibu Paris Edition. Exploring the geography and urban identity of Paris and Tokyo, the 2025 vintage invites you to visit the emblematic districts of these two capitals: Montmartre and Asakusa; Le Marais and Harajuku; Les Champs-Élysées and Ginza. Six labels have been designed to illustrate this new edition, in a pop and colourful graphic style, a tribute to Japanese kawaii culture. Inspired by postage stamps with their jagged edges, they evoke travel and the correspondence between the two urban cultures. Chichibu Paris Edition 2025 results from a complex blend: four casks of new French oak, one Spanish oak cask that previously held sherry, three French oak casks that contained red Bordeaux wine, one American oak hogshead, six bourbon barrels, and two bourbon barrels that previously held heavily peated whisky. The whiskies used in this cuvée range in age from five to fourteen years. Enriched by this decidedly eclectic cask combination, its aromatic and flavour profile is built on a malty backbone that helps it stay the course through all conditions. Exceptionally well-balanced, it eagerly explores earthy, fruity, spicy, indulgent, and infused territories, each bursting with intensity.

Appearance: Topaz.

Nose: Rich, unctuous. Backed by a pleasant malty bitterness, earthy and spicy (cinnamon), the aromatic palette quickly opens up to tropical fruit notes (passion fruit, lychee), dark berries (grape, blackberry), and undergrowth (dry leaves, porcini mushrooms). Subtle hints of prune then lend it a noble character.

Palate: Clean, lively. At first, oily, robustly peaty, lemony, and peppery, the flavour profile shifts toward more honeyed and waxy notes. Becoming increasingly creamy, it grows more indulgent (toasted bread, rusk), malty (barley porridge), and deliciously fruity (mirabelle plum, damson).

Overall: Long, concentrated. Echoing the malty tones of the nose and palate, the finish is refreshed by flavours of gentian, mint, eucalyptus, and sage. Both exotic (passion fruit) and candied (prune), the retro-olfaction gradually softens with notes of toffee and bourbon vanilla.