Taste Testing Bar Te Airigh's 18th Anniversary 2007 Benriach 18 Year Old, Hogshead Imports

As the saying goes, if you can't visit Chichibu Distillery, Bar Te Airigh (pronounced "Cherry" - we'll get to that in abit!) is the next best thing.

Located just outside of the Chichibu Station, Bar Te Airigh (チェ・アリー) was established in 2007 by owner and bartender Takeshi Yokota (横田 武志), and is arguably best known for its extensive collection of Chichibu Japanese Single Malts - many of which are incredibly rare and difficult to find - which it serves along with its pastries, which are made by the bar's in-house pastry chef! With a selection of over 1,000 whisky expressions from around the world (and of course many Scotch), guests can expect to dip into Yokota-san's over 100 bottles of Chichibu whiskies that are available on pour.

Bar Te Airigh 秩父の小さな隠れ家（チェ・アリー）in Chichibu Prefecture.

It's worth pointing out that Bar Te Airigh (which draws its name from the Irish phrase barr do thrioblóidí which is pronounced phonetically Bar Te Airigh, with "Airigh" sounding like erry, and is a toast that is taken to mean "The top of your troubles!", to which Cheathrú, pronounced Cherry and translated as "A quarter!", is the response) is often cited by those in Japan as one of the foremost bars in the Chichibu Prefecture, even by Chichibu Distillery founder Ichiro Akuto himself! This is of course not simply because of its immense selection and delicious pastries, but also because Yokota-san is one of the co-founders and also the Chairman of the legendary Chichibu Whisky Matsuri festival that takes place every February! It is one of the must-go whisky festivals for any whisky fan (especially if you love Chichibu and Japanese whiskies), and ranks alongside the likes of Whisky Talk Fukuoka and Whisky Festival Tokyo locally, and also Feis Ile, The Whisky Fair Limburg, Whisky Live Paris and The Whisky Show London internationally!

Takeshi Yokota (横田 武志), who helms Bar Te Airigh and is also the Chichibu Matsuri Whisky festival.

And so for a man and a bar as esteemed as Yokota-san and Bar Te Airigh, proper birthday celebrations are in order and it is only to be expected that some incredible whiskies are bottled to commemorate the event! For Bar Te Airigh's 18th anniversary, Hogshead Imports had bottled an 18 Year Old Cask Strength 2007 Benriach to celebrate, and so we have to try it! PS. You'll notice that Bar Te Airigh bottlings typically and distinctively feature really cute "hand-drawn" labels of the bar - this is actually the artwork of Yokota-san's daughter!

With that said, let's get down to tasting this baby!

Let's go!

Whisky Review: Bar Te Airigh's 18th Anniversary 2007 Benriach 18 Year Old, Hogshead Imports, Refill Hogshead, 48.4% ABV Cask Strength

This 18 Year Old Benriach was distilled in May 2007 and bottled in May 2025, having been aged in Refill Hogshead and bottled at cask strength of 48.4% ABV, with an outturn of 180 bottles. This was bottled for Bar Te Airigh in Chichibu Prefecture by Hogshead Imports.

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Rather pale olive oil or light straw.

Aroma: Clean and transparent with tons of orchard fruits, sweet malt and a touch of rusticity. It opens ripe and rounded with bright orchard fruits, pears, fresh apricot with a rounded barley sweetness. A slightly green tinge of lemongrass and green apple with chamomile, jasmine and mint leaf. It becomes creamier and offers up more malt sweetness as it goes - grist, sweet cereal, barley porridge, touch of clotted cream. On the back of it, a light rustic influence reminiscent of hay, and some animalic tones of saddle soap and horse hair on a violin bow. 

Taste: Pleasingly flavourful with a distinctively weighty mouthfeel. Medium bodied and both sweet and spiced at the same time. Opens with tons of honey, vanilla and cream, sweet barley porridge with golden apples and sweet marzipan. Nearly ripe plums and nectarines and a touch of Polo mints. Spice quickly dissipates and as it develops towards the finish it seems to get more and more singular, with integrated notes of hawthorn flakes, herbaceous Pei Pa Koa syrup, some fresh tilled soil earthiness with lightly flinty mineral tones on the back.

Finish: Clean, long, sweet and spiced. Fading marzipan and honeyed tones with farmy influences making a return - straw and a touch of animal hide - with candied ginger, cloves and nutmeg, some cacao and espresso bitter-sweetness. It gets really cooling and herbaceous right in the aftermath with spearmint and camphor. 

My Thoughts

This is a very memorable and transparent BenRiach full of spirit-driven character. It is mature, harmonious and flavourful with a certain subtle sensibility seen in older school Scotch whisky. 

The choice of using a refill oak cask seems to explain why much of its singular character was driven by spirit rather than the wood - you could immediately see it from the rather pale straw colour of this 18 year old Scotch.

This bottle adds to the conversation about how flavourful modern whisky ought to be made. At 18 years, here’s a really, really contemplative Scotch, opening with tons of honeyed maltiness, orchard fruits and increasingly layered with complex but subtle earthy and rustic tertiary notes, made with a cask designed to be more of a mellowing vessel than one used to add flavour.