Chichibu 2009 French Oak Cask

We are no shy retiring missish lasses… no siree! Mumbai’s Whisky Ladies aren’t afraid to take on a trio of cask strength malts against the backdrop of India’s Festival of Lights – Diwali! After all, if firecrackers are bursting around us, why not have a few sherry bombs and whisky booms delighting our senses?

Last night we explored:

And here is what we found…

Glenfarclas 105 NAS 60%

Colour – Burnished copper
Nose – Smells like Christmas! Very sherry-y, caramel, then vanilla notes as it opens up
Taste – Sweet, dark and smokey, honeyed prunes, raisins, nutty and chocolatey
Finish – Smooth yet also quite dry – especially with a few drops of pani (water)
Pairing – We just happened to have a few truffles on hand… so naturally started testing out pairings and pronounced it successful though “The kick comes back after a hit of chocolate truffles!”

Comments…

“It’s just like bad life choices… with caramel”
“Like cafe patron!”
“No sweet tooth here, just alcohol tooth!”
“Now it is simply a sherry wine bomb!”

This Speyside dram got things off to a rollicking start! Some missed the step of… “Perhaps you may wish to spit your 1st sip“ as going from 0% to 60% in the first swig can be a bit jarring. However our ladies were undaunted and found it became increasingly dangerous as this dram does go down rather well, easy to just keep sipping and sipping and sipping…

Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu 2009 French White Oak Cask #2357 63.1%

Colour – Golden straw
Nose – A little spicy, very sweet, light floral notes and yet can pack a punch or hit you between the eyes too!
Taste – Cayenne pepper, very summer-y and light, flirty, smooth yet confusing, bright and bubbly
Finish – Deceptive… there but much more subtle than the aroma and palate would indicate
Water – A couple drops of water rounds it out
Pairing – For some, the Chichibu and strawberries was a killer combination – who needs champagne if you have an effervescent whisky? For others, it was the brie cheese that did it. And the balance? Well… let’s just say there are a few of the opinion that chocolate goes with practically everything, doesn’t it?

Comments…

“From the wrong angle, just a sniff will get you!”
“While light and flirty, if you look at it the wrong way, it will kick you in the ass!”

This young Japanese single cask has many unique qualities and distinctly different from the straightforward Glenfarclas. It has a bright light element that completely belies its strength. Again – a dangerous combination!

Abelour A’bunadh Batch No 35 60.3%

Colour – A deep dark burgundy with ruby highlights
Nose – Cinnamon and cloves, gingerbread, honey, pronounced prunes, black cherries, Christmas cake, classic sherry-bomb
Taste – Apple cider, caramel, warm and smooth, very ‘Christmassy’, rum-soaked raisins, robust and bursting with character
Finish – Think curling up by a cosy warm fireplace…
Water – This one works straight yet also does a happy dance with drops or a dollop!
Pairing – Best with a sharp old cheddar, needs something that can hold its own with such brilliant flavours.

Comments…

“Beautiful things are happening in my nose! And its not what you are thinking!”
“This is one you notice every sip… and yes! It is probably getting you drunk…”

When the A’bunadh came out, there was literally a squeal of delight from one lady – as she would be re-uniting her taste buds with an old favourite. Talk turned to the slight shifts in flavour profiles between batches, fruitless efforts to track down certain batches from the 20s! Disbelief they are now into the 50s and a recommendation to simply ‘grab it’ if you see it!

What makes this Speyside stand out is its unabashed sherry quality. Rather than simply acquiring a sherry ‘finish,’ A’bunadh matures exclusively in Spanish Oloroso sherry butts, gaining a rich, robust and surprisingly well rounded profile.

Even better was the realisation that the price point for both Speysides remains reasonable (i.e. below $70) though the Japanese is near impossible to find at any price!

Our whisky ladies relished this cask strength trio – without a doubt a Diwali night to remember!

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When I spotted this cask strength Chichibu in the Isetan Department Store in Shinjuku, Tokyo in July 2014, our whisky tasting group had never tried anything from this distillery before. As my quest was to find something ‘different’ and ‘difficult to source’ outside of Japan, a recent release from Ichiro’s Malt seemed to meet the criteria perfectly!

Now, clearly great minds think alike as another Chichibu – specifically the 3 year ‘The Floor Malted‘ – was sourced by another of our whisky tasting members. We sampled it in October 2014 and it could easily hold its own against older whiskies.

So what about this particular whisky? Well… here is where it gets interesting!

Chichibu 2009 French Oak Cask (Whisky Lady)

Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu 2009 French Oak Cask 63.1%, Cask number 2357, Bottled in 2014

First impression – solo interpretation

Confession time – I lost patience waiting from July 2014 to February 2015 for my next turn to curate our whisky evening… so I cracked open the bottle early and here is what I discovered:

Colour – Bright gold
Nose – A delightful burst of notes – strong sweet vanilla, tropical fruits, overripe banana, a deeper hint of chocolaty mint and cinnamon
Palate – Something slightly ‘rancio’, the fruits having an overripe quality, woodsy, a tinge oily and very chewy, the chocolate re-emerging
Finish – Spicy, nutty, slightly disappointing – sense of being a bit brash and ‘young’
Water? – Most certainly!

Second impression – group effort

Now here is what happened when I shared the same bottle with our intrepid tasters:

Nose – Medicinal, sweet perfume but with more depth and fruit than the Chita, pronounced pears, the more it aired the more we discovered – a whiff of grain, warm breeze on grass… then French vanilla… after sipping could smell dark molasses and cinnamon
Taste – Immediate sense of an aged whisky bursting with character, had punch, spice, very chewy, leather, bit of brine, woodsy
Finish – Coffee, bitter yet warm, hint of nuttiness and dark chocolate
Add water – This was definitely one we wanted to add water… Even dryer, woody elements emerged, almost like eating rose petals, the French vanilla also became even more pronounced

Reactions:

Has ‘teeth’ and a ‘bit more alcohol’ than the Chita… perhaps 48%??
Also gave the sense of age given its robust character – something to feast on!
One suggested it was so chewy you felt like you could eat it!

Unveiling:

Very deceptive… absolutely unbelievable that it is cask strength at 63.1%
Also had the range and depth one would expect from an older whisky – remarkable it is only 2009 i.e. 5 year
I shared had opened it earlier so it had the advantage / disadvantage of a little bit of ‘air’ even before we sampled it together – in this case I believe it was an advantage
Overall an impressive whisky

I revisited my solo tasting notes only when writing this post – you can see that much overlapped but also some differences – including the finish.

What is so delightful about having a small group of friends taste together is the different descriptions and reactions. As we taste blind, we are also not influenced by origin, age, packaging, what we may have heard about a particular whisky… or even a previous acquaintance with the same whisky! Only the host knows what we are trying and we take seriously being ‘mum’ to not influence our fellow tasters.

Taste is deeply personal yet I find it tremendously enriching to have company when exploring the world of whisky… and pleased could share something less readily accessible.

Chichibu 2009 French Oak Cask (Whisky Lady)

We sampled this together with Suntory’s Chita Single Grain Whisky, Nikka’s Taketsuru Pure Malt 17 Year and Ichiro’s Malt – possibly Houou-uhi in February 2015.

What others are saying:

Nonjatta – Brief note on the French Oak Cask and Chibidaru Cask
e-Ting – Mentions this release and the very same Isetan Shinjuku where I bought the whisky
Whisky Saga – On visiting the Chichibu distillery

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