How better to ring in the new year with a visit to the God of Fortune? We'll take any fortune that we can get, won't we? It's been a hot minute and we're back with the 6th edition of Salud Spirits' 7EVEN Gods of Fortune series - we're very soon approaching the season finale! Yet, we're always excited whenever one of these show up.

Salud Spirits is of course the famed fine spirits distributor of the Netherlands and Austria, and have been the source of some of the most sought after Chichibu expressions coming out of Europe. Now, it's been more than a decade and a half that the cult Chichibu Distillery has been around, and we've of course come to have seen many private casks of Chichibu's popping up - but make no mistake, not a single one of these casks come easy. Having spoken to someone in the industry (who still has not been able to get their hands on one), getting a cask of Chichibu is no small feat. Now if one cask is about as easy as winning an Olympic medal, it should tell you alot about how established Salud Spirits are because they've amassed 7 casks for this series (and that's beyond their legendary Intergalactic Series).

And so back to today's adventure - we're paying a visit to Daikokuten. Daikokuten is the God of commerce and prosperity, and even happens to be the patron of cooks, farmers, and demon hunters! The legend goes that Daikokuten had hung a sacred talisman on the branch of a tree in his garden, which laid the trap for a demon that was to be caught. The God is characterised by a big smile, short legs, a hat on his head, and a bag full of valuables.

The whisky itself is a 9 Year Old Chichibu, aged in 2nd Fill Bourbon barrels, made with heavily peated malt, and was distilled in 2015 and bottled in 2024, at 61.9% ABV. There's just about 187 bottles of this. And as with all the releases of this series, the artwork comes courtesy of digital art studio WARBB.

Now let's have a crack at it!

Whisky Review: Chichibu 2015, 9 Year Old, Daikokuten 6th Edition of 7EVEN Gods of Fortune Series, Salud Spirits, 61.9% ABV

Tasting Notes

Colour: Gold

Aroma: Really firm and astute, it gets off to a candied start, all that crystalline maltose candy. Following closely are full on orchards of orange blossoms, apricots and peaches. There’s a backing of vanilla cream and a more herbal side of menthol and eucalyptus. There’s also quite abit of minerality here with flint smoke, as well as some nuttiness of walnut oil. Also alittle bit industrial with some engine grease too. It’s well-layered, all of which have a great structure that composes the nose with orderly fashion.

Taste: A touch of the old school here! This feels like a style of the bygone 60’s and 70’s of Scotch. Yet it does have the hallmarks of modernity - the precision and boldness, really forward. It opens up with sweet lemon and pear drops, vanilla cream, alittle waxy almost, with these industrial touches of engine grease and the smoke of an overworked engine, a well worn mechanic’s towel. Some sweetness of frosted cereal, there’s that maltiness of cereal husks. Beeswax too. There’s a core of crystallised fruits, of guavas and pomelos. Alittle bit of smoke, more of that minerality of flint and oyster shells. A touch of savouriness. Medium-bodied, it’s really firm and waxy, and rather chiselled.

Finish: The savouriness perseveres on, radiating outward, with charred meat and white charcoals. The base layer of honey surfaces more prominently here. Vanilla cream and chopped pine nuts join in on that savouriness. Little bits of that pomelo and guavas continue to come through, with some gooseberries coming to fore as well. It’s a long and powerful finish that trails off with some subtle funkiness of hay, walnuts and brie rinds.

My Thoughts

What do we think of Springbank's and Glen Mhor's of the 60's and 70's? Phenomenal aren't they, and that's why we keep going back to them and decades and decades on, they remain key references for any whisky lover. And this Chichibu here is channelling all of that, but there's definitely a modern sensibility about it, even if it's filled in with all those flavours and aromas that call back to a lost style of whisky. Here it's really precise, it has more presence and body, it's alot bolder and more forward - it more muscular almost, which is just fantastic. 

On the nose, it's so well structured, you almost feel like you're traversing the layers of a Richard Serra sculpture. It's these distinct layers all steely holding their place, conveying tones of fruits and florals, more herbal elements, minerality and also this evocative industrial component. On the palate it has this almost minimalist, at times rustic, sort of purity. Grain, orchard fruits in the form of candy drops, industrial workshop vibes, it almost feels like you're in the distillery's malting room floor, nestled by the countryside. This all persists through the finish, it's a long, powerful finish, still so raw, really loving these old school industrial tones.

I found this to not be too usual of a Chichibu, with aromas and flavours that take it beyond what we're typically used to. It feels like a long lost page out of antiquity, yet delivered at high definition. It's incredibly complex, yet also really pure and austere at the same time, all whilst demonstrating an impressive balance.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot