Chichibu US Edition 2018 Single Malt

Price

$1,499.95

✔ Authenticated by the house — seal, fill level, and label inspected before release
✔ Documented provenance on every bottle
✔ Climate-safe, collector-grade packaging

Age: | Region: Chichibu, Saitama, Japan | Proof: 101

Secure payments

Vault-to-door shipping

Adult signature (21+) at delivery

2018

First US Edition

56.4%

ABV

112.8

Proof

1,235

Bottles

5 & 6

Years in Cask

750mL

Format

Ichiro's Malt Chichibu The US Edition 2018 is where Chichibu Distillery's annual run of single malts for the United States begins. Its 1,235 bottles hold whisky aged five and six years in ex-bourbon barrels and a hogshead fitted with Mizunara oak heads, bottled at 56.4% ABV — 112.8 proof.

Nº 01

The Elemental Distinction

The series begins here. Chichibu has released one US Edition every year since 2018. This bottling is the first, and every year since has brought a new vatting under the same name.

Mizunara in the cask heads. One cask in the vatting is a hogshead fitted with heads of Mizunara, the Japanese oak. The others are ex-bourbon barrels.

Five and six years old. Its components were five and six years old, according to High Road Spirits' sheet for the edition. Chichibu began distilling in 2008, so the vatting draws on spirit from the distillery's early years.

Highest strength in the series. At 56.4% ABV — 112.8 proof — the 2018 edition is stronger than every US Edition released since, through 2026; the later bottlings run from 55.5% down to 52.5%.

1,235 bottles. The first edition came to 1,235 bottles; the 2019 release that followed ran to 1,556.

Nº 02

From Hanyu to Chichibu

Ichiro Akuto · 2007

Ichiro Akuto's grandfather established the Hanyu Distillery in 1945; after Hanyu closed, Akuto saved its remaining stock and released it as the Playing Card series. In 2007 he built a distillery of his own in Chichibu, Saitama, about two hours west of Tokyo, and began distilling there in 2008. The distillery ferments in washbacks of Mizunara oak, distils in a pair of small Forsyths copper pot stills, and keeps its own floor maltings and cooperage; Venture Whisky Ltd. runs it.

Nº 03

Cask Composition

What the vatting holds

Hogshead

Mizunara oak heads

A hogshead built with heads of Mizunara oak.

Barrels

Ex-bourbon

Barrels that held bourbon before Chichibu filled them — the main part of the vatting.

Age

Five and six years

The two ages High Road Spirits gives for the whisky in this vatting.

Nº 04

Sensory Profile & Strategy

Cask notes & position

Sensory Profile

Ex-bourbon barrels make up most of this vatting, and Mizunara reaches the whisky only through the heads of one hogshead. Bottled at five and six years old and 56.4% ABV, it carries the highest strength of any US Edition through 2026.

Strategic Position

The 2018 bottle starts the US Edition sequence. A year later Chichibu turned from wood to grain with the 2019 edition built on three barley varieties, whose label lists barley rather than cask types.

Nº 05

Collector Note & Index

Vault provenance

→

The label lists every cask

The box label names each cask by number and type in a column beside a short history of the distillery, with the edition year and the kanji 秩父 — Chichibu — in olive-gold foil.

→

750 mL, the US size

The 2018 edition is a 750 mL bottle, the size the series kept until the 2021 edition moved to 700 mL.

Collector IndexUS EDITION 2018

Brand: Ichiro's Malt
Distillery: Chichibu, Saitama, Japan
Edition: The US Edition 2018
Strength: 56.4% ABV · 112.8 Proof
Format: 750 mL
Outturn: 1,235 bottles

For other bottles from Japan, browse Japanese whisky from Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki and Chichibu.

Nº 06

Technical Specifications

Specification	Detail
Class	Single Malt Whisky
Brand	Ichiro's Malt
Distillery	Chichibu Distillery (Venture Whisky Ltd.)
Region	Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Edition	The US Edition 2018, first of the annual US Editions
ABV	56.4%
Proof	112.8
Format	750 mL
Cask / Barrel	Ex-bourbon barrels and a hogshead with Mizunara oak heads
Age	Components aged 5 and 6 years (High Road Spirits' specification)
Outturn	1,235 bottles

Nº 07

Records & Assurance

Production Methodology

The 2018 US Edition is a vatting, not a single cask. Chichibu brought together whisky from ex-bourbon barrels and from a hogshead built with Mizunara oak heads — five and six years old, by High Road Spirits' sheet — and bottled it at 56.4% ABV for the American market under the US Edition name, which the distillery has used for one release a year ever since.

Authentication & Vault Preservation

Every bottle sold through Midnight Whiskey is sourced as an authentic, sealed product and inspected before it ships. Orders are packed with padded, glass-rated handling and require an adult signature (21+) on delivery; we do not ship to anyone unable to verify legal drinking age. For our full sourcing and handling protocols, see our editorial and authentication standards.

Frequently Asked Questions

What proof is Chichibu The US Edition 2018?

Chichibu The US Edition 2018 is 112.8 US proof — 56.4% alcohol by volume — in a 750 mL bottle. Ichiro's Malt produced it at Chichibu Distillery in Saitama, Japan, as the first of the annual US Editions.

What casks went into Chichibu The US Edition 2018?

Ichiro's Malt built the 2018 US Edition from ex-bourbon barrels and a hogshead fitted with Mizunara oak heads. High Road Spirits gives the age of the whisky in those casks as five and six years.

Was the 2018 bottling the first Chichibu US Edition?

Yes. Chichibu Distillery has released one US Edition each year since 2018, so the 2018 bottling began the series. The 2019 edition that followed was organized around three barley varieties rather than cask types.

Midnight Whiskey · The Vault Ichiro's Malt Chichibu · The US Edition 2018

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Ichiro's Malt Chichibu

The Elemental Distinction

From Hanyu to Chichibu