Attracting attention from around the world.
Whisky maker from Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture.<Part 1>

Ichiro Hido is the Ichiro of the whisky industry.He is the man who started Japan's only whisky manufacturer specialising in whisky and has brought a breath of fresh air to the industry.We spoke to him about the path that led to the birth of Ichiro's Malt and what the future holds.

writer：Sayuri Tsuji

Ichiro's Malt is highly regarded overseas and has many collectors.

It was awarded the highest score in the Premium Japanese Whisky category by the UK's Whisky Magazine in 2006, the 'King of Diamonds', and has also won awards in the World Whisky Awards (WWA), a global whisky competition, every year since 2007.The company has won awards in the Japanese whisky category every year since 2007.

It is sold by Venture Whisky Corporation, the only whisky specialist in Japan with just six employees.

The founder is Ichiro Akuto, who named the whisky after himself.He is known as a "revolutionary" in the whisky industry, which is dominated by two major manufacturers, Suntory and Nikka.

Mr Akuto built a distillery in Chichibu, in western Saitama Prefecture, and obtained a whisky production licence in February 2008.

I was told that the licence would be granted in about four months once I applied, but it didn't take long and I was worried that it might not actually be granted.I later heard that the last time a whisky licence was granted in Japan was in 1984.

The Venture Whisky Chichibu distillery was established on land leased from Saitama Prefecture, but even here it was not easy to obtain a licence.

The Venture Whisky Chichibu distillery was established on land leased from Saitama Prefecture, but even here it was not easy to get permission.On the day of the handover, the person in charge told us that, in fact, he was supposed to refuse the project at first.

This was the first time that the prefecture had leased land to a single venture company.At first, the person in charge was told by his boss to refuse Mr Akuto's project.However, as he listened to Mr AKuto's story, he began to find it interesting, and when his boss heard this, he said, "I can't help it, I'll turn it down then," and left.

He even persuaded his boss to go along with it. "He told me to include my name in the company history because of my efforts (laughs).

Ichiro showed us around the distillery in Chichibu, surrounded by forest and water.

First, the malt mill where the malt is crushed in the production building.The malt of the day is from Germany.Others were from England and Scotland.

I would like to say that I chose them with great care ......, but in fact, at the time of operation, whisky was booming worldwide and it was difficult to get newcomers to sell it.We had to go to the local market and finally got them to sell it to us because we had come all the way from Japan."

On the other hand, Ichiro's desire to make whisky with locally grown barley is strong, and he is currently growing barley with the help of local farmers.The day we visited was just before harvest.The golden barley was swaying in the May breeze.

'I like coming here and just zoning out.Sometimes I get so zoned out that my employees get mad at me (laughs)."

Now, after several samples and adjustments, the milled malt is sent to the mashtan (saccharification tank), where it is mixed with hot water and saccharified.There, enzymes break it down into wort with a sugar content of 14-15%.

The cooled wort is transferred to five wooden washbacks (fermentation tanks).The washbacks are made from Quercus crispula from Iwate.

The reason why we used Mizunara oak is because I happen to know someone at a company that makes barrels, and he told me I could get some now.Wooden wash-backs are now being looked at again worldwide.They allow the lactic acid bacteria to advance the fermentation process, so it's easier to get a unique flavour."

Fermentation here for four days results in a wash (mash) with an alcohol content of 7-8%.

The two pot stills are made by Forsyths (Scotland).When the wash is first put into the wash still (first distillation vessel) on the left and the temperature is raised, the evaporated alcohol rises up the neck of the pot still, passes through the cooling system and becomes a liquid called low wine.

If this is further distilled in the spirit still (redistillation kettle) on the right, it is classified as foreshot (pre-distillation liquid), middle cut (middle distillation liquid) and feint (post-distillation liquid).Of these, only the middle-cut is casked as malt spirit.

'The small size of the pot still and the straight neck give it a unique quality.We had a meeting with Forsyths's engineers to have it made to our requirements."

The extracted middle cut is adjusted to 63.5° alcohol by volume and then casked.The middle cut is then aged in bourbon barrels, sherry, rum, brandy, wine, etc. There are more than 20 different types of barrels.

Whisky varies a lot depending on the barrel it is matured in.But this is the first time we've matured whisky in Chichibu.It seems like a long way to go, but we want to slowly find out which casks are best suited for Chichibu whisky, using a variety of casks.It's like we're involving the customers and having them experiment with us (laughs).

Ichiro's single malt is now highly regarded and hard to find, but the road to the Chichibu distillery was even more eventful.

Continue to Part 2.