Friday, September 18, 2015

Ichiro's Malt Chichibu Single Cask PX for Modern Malt Whisky Market 2014 Tokyo


Cask type: Pedro Ximenez Sherry - Spanish Oak: Hogshead - Cask# 2640 : - Distilled: December 2010 - Bottled: - September 2014 - ABV: - 59.7%

Nose: Strawberries and cream soft chewy lollies. Earl grey tea fruit cake, lemon and honey tea, maraschino cherry and/or black forest cherry sauce. Soft tonnes of fresh licorice sticks. Late arrival on sourness. With water golden brown toasted raisin bread with a smear of butter, strawberry wafer biscuits, and Umeshu. Sweet and sour sauce. Hints of vermouth at times with fragrant orange.

Taste: To begin with it is hot. Then it moves expressively to spicy grilled figs, pink pepper corns, dry sherry - more so than PX, and Rocky road. Time in the glass works well with this Chichibu, which allows further development of menthol, earl grey tea, and spicy lemon peel. With water this malt has a lot more riding - berry marmalade, a touch of star anise, and mint leaves lollies. If you can be extra patient and let it sit after dilution you get a lovely liquid herb combo (again Vermouth?) and a hint of eucalyptus honey.

Finish: Moderate to long. Menthol spices, a touch of licorice, raspberry spicy sauce, dry sherry, dried orange peel, and marmalade. Dry. Water loosens up the dryness and takes a notch of the spicyness.

 Comment: To date with what I own and have opened this is one of my favourite single casks from a handful of Chichibu's. Have yet to open the Oloroso.
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7 comments:

  1. DavidSeptember 18, 2015 at 4:05 PM

    Umeshu, very interesting

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    Replies
    1. - Clint ASeptember 24, 2015 at 5:24 PM

      I thought so. It was leaning more so towards a thick, well aged Umeshu, around the 5yo mark in my opinion.

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  2. Pierre WSeptember 19, 2015 at 9:16 AM

    This is a very nice review, Clint. I was not surprised to read that this bottling works well with water. I'd love to see whether I'd get the vermouth on the nose and the earl grey on the palate. Good stuff!

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    1. - Clint ASeptember 24, 2015 at 5:27 PM

      Drop by Pierre and you are welcome to see for yourself. As for the earl grey, it certainly was fruity tea blend at that, but in my opinion it certainly retained all the traits of a Earl Grey.

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  3. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2015 at 2:42 PM

    On a tangent, will you be at the British Fair at Hankyu in Hakata this month?

    Jason

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    Replies
    1. - Clint ASeptember 24, 2015 at 5:20 PM

      Hi Jason, unfortunately I will not be at the fair this year. It was a shame we could not catch up at Whisky Talk this year. Maybe next time.

      Regards,
      Clint

      Delete
    2. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2015 at 10:07 PM

      Awwww man... That's too bad. Yeah, sorry we couldn't catch up. I hope next year we can!

      Delete