A fabulously delicious and frustrating dram of Japanese whiskey. There, the review is over. You can leave now. Still here? Fine, let’s break this one down.
Before I jump into the review, no, Ichiro’s Malt MWR is not produced at the Yamazaki distillery, however as I don’t have a Chichibu glass this one will have to do. Chichibu distillery is located a good drive outside Tokyo and has won multiple awards for their world whiskies including:
- 2008 World Whiskies Awards (Best Non Scotch Blended Malt Whisky 12 Years and Under)
- 2008 World Whiskies Aware (Best Japanese Single Malt Whisky 21 Years and Over)
- 2009 World Whiskies Awards (Best Non Scotch Blended Malt Whisky No Age Statement)
The Specs
- Distillery | Chichibu
- Location | Japan
- Age | NAS
- ABV | 46%
Right out the gate, I want to address the ABV. In my somewhat-limited experience with Japanese whiskies, it seems that most major distilleries came together and said “Hey, I like the number 43!”, and lo a large percentage of well known JP whiskies ended up with 43% ABV (See: Hibiki, Yamazaki, Hakushu, etc).
Is it so hard to ask for cask strength JP whiskies? I know they exist, but have you ever seen one? Closest reasonably attainable option is Nikka From The Barrel @ 51%~, and in Scotch/Bourbon regard, that’s just one foot in the door.
The Nose
Plum sake (think Choya Umeshu), apples, white grapes, ethanol. An absolutely beautiful nose even with the minor ethanol smell near the end. I’ve had two drams so far and the first dram I never got the plum sake, but on the second I did a double-take to how close to Choya Umeshu the fragrance took me.
The Palate
The taste of apples mixed with white grapes was readily apparent. A bouquet of floral notes you taste in the larger Japanese distilleries. A subtle oak flavor with only the smallest amount of tannin I normally attribute to Mizunara casks was present.
As a side note, this whiskey was presumably finished in Mizunara cask and not matured. After trying the Yamazaki 18 Mizunara cask, you can tell a clear difference in finished vs. matured whiskies and it’s obvious. That said, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the flavor and I hope the industry as a whole adopts more mizunara casks into their product offerings.
The Finish
There was none. No finish at all except for a faint oily texture with the palate fading without so much as a whimper.
Final Notes
This is both a marvelous and equally frustrating whiskey to review. You know how you take a sniff of something — your favorite dram, a delicious meal — and you know it’s going to be good from the scent alone? Ichiro’s MWR is just that, but once you’ve taking a sip (or bite for analogy sake), the taste vanishes as quickly as it came.
A delicious dram no doubt, though I think it’s better suited with the name ‘Mayfly’.
VERDICT: 79/100
Rating Scale
00-49 || Drain. Immediately.
50-59 || Cocktail mixers only
60-64 || “fine” -my fiance
65-69 || Mediocre to decent
70-74 || Decent
75-79 || Above average
80-84 || Great
85-89 || Excellent
90-95 || Magnificent
96-100 || Masterpiece
Modern Dram 
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