Friday, October 30, 2015

Ichiro's Malt Chichibu The Peated 2015 Cask Strength


Distilled: 2011 - Bottled: 2015 - Outturn: 5980 bottles - ABV: 62.5%

Nose: Past the obvious attributes of earthy elements and sweet peat a mixture of sweet and savoury layers emerge. In no particular order a lovely layer of banana fritters caress your nose – quite prolonged really. Between bursts of cold charcoal ash there’s a sweet fragrance of dried sweetgrass, barbecue savoury crackers, and a few assorted dried meats (semi-smoked pork) - actually Jamaican Jerk chicken? Thai basil. Quite chameleon in character with the introduction of water, and all for the better in my opinion. H20 draws out what I associate to be lemon Strepsils. Time and H20 revealed what I associate to be a subtle likeness of Yuzukosho. Engine oil. Then, what I can only describe as a Tiger lily that has been squirted with tar spray…

Taste: Naturally the earthy peat and charcoal ash is relatively dominant. But there is more to it. Smouldering cigar leaf, PVC toys, spicy citrus BBQ sauce, and the lemon Strepsils are back. Thai basil. Perhaps one of my favourite tastes on the pallet is the unmistakable mouth coating flavour of Porky Bits (pork crackling cracker snacks). With water salted pistachio and ash baked potato skins. However, a little too much water can make this go a bit dry.

Finish: Maintains a reasonable ride with Thai basil, pork crackling snacks, and ash dust from baked potato skins. With water, again, salted pistachios. 

Comment: The 2015 edition is the 3rd release of Chichibu’s ‘peated expressions’. All 3 limited releases maintain their own uniqueness and subtle characteristics that I liked so I’d be hard pressed to nominate a favourite. If pressed I’d most likely reveal however which one I’d lean to the most.