With the first whisky spirits flowing from Chichibu's stills in 2004 - few at the time would possibly conceive the seismic impact that Chichibu was about to have on the whisky world in the years to come - and yet the team, led by founder Ichiro Akuto, had remained resolute and convicted in their purpose. In the following years, Chichibu whiskies became the hottest thing since sliced bread, completely flipping the script on the whisky game, and in so doing inspired a whole generation of distillers around the world (particularly in countries that had not yet had a firm whiskymaking presence) in the goal of producing artisanal whiskies.

Of course, as time went on, the goal was never to remain scarce, and instead to ensure that everyone had their fill of Chichibu's whiskies - and so whilst releases largely turned towards private bottlings, with few flagship releases to emerge, the team at Chichibu had worked hard behind the scenes to raise production to keep up with demand - Chichibu Distillery 2 would eventually emerge, with also more to come.

Chichibu Distillery 1.

When Chichibu unveiled The First Ten in 2020, its oldest distillery bottling up till this point, it was a watershed moment in Japanese whiskies, and marked a momentous occasion that was hard fought and few had expected just decades prior.

And now it appears that Chichibu is ready to release a flagship 10 Year Old, that is a subtle yet equally momentous expression which hints at Chichibu Distillery going beyond their First Ten, and now having sufficient well-aged whiskies to put out simply a 10 Year Old expression. It's not The First Ten anymore, but instead just Chichibu 10 Year Old - a signal that Chichibu was now in good stead and had comfortably shored up enough for itself.

"Here in Chichibu, located in the northwest of Saitama Prefecture, surrounded by mountains, in 2008 the first drops of spirit flowed and a new chapter in the history of whisky began. As both calm and turbulent time passes, it quietly waits for it's moment of true maturity, leading to a dram that carries the thoughts and feelings of all who experience it. Single malt whisky from Chichibu, matured for more than 10 years, time enough to develop a real depth of flavour and complexity of finish using a number of different types of cask."

The new expression also shows a shift towards a cleaner and more modern aesthetic of the label design, along with what appears to be a new tagline "The Artisan Distillery Est 2008".

The new Chichibu 10 Years Old is bottled at 50.5% ABV (a favourite of founder Ichiro Akuto), with 4,956 bottles to be released.