Ichiro Akuto is arguably the king of independent Japanese distillers, despite working out of an exceptionally modest premise with just two small pot stills in Chichibu, a town 100 km northwest of Tokyo. Despite this, Akuto’s single malts have consistently won rave reviews and achieved significant milestones, for example, in 2015 he sold a bottle of 1960 Karuizawa single malt for $118,500 at an auction in Hong Kong, a record for a Japanese whisky. Not bad for what is technically Japan’s smallest distillery.
Akuto’s education of whisky distillation came through the family business. His grandfather was originally a sake maker, running a sake brewery, Hanyu Distillery, established in 1625, when he obtained a distiller’s license to produce whisky in 1941. Akuto’s father continued the work his grandfather had began and his dabbles in whisky led him to purchase two stills from Scotland that could produce about 400 casks. In 2000, however, economic decline in Japan and a reduction in sake consumption forced the family to sell their business.
Ichiro Akuto’s turned this potential crisis into an opportunity, however, and gleefully snapped up the unwanted stills and casks of maturing whisky from the brewery’s new owners. He followed this with the launch of Venture Whisky in 2008 and produced his first label – Ichiro’s Vintage Single Malt 1988 – the following year. Much of the rest of the inherited stock went into Venture’s award-winning ‘card’ series, such as Ichiro's Malt The Joker (colour), which sold out as soon as they went on sale.
Today, Ichiro continues to implement the techniques learnt from many years at Hanyu Distillery and is one of the most ambitious Japanese distillers in operation. Some 4,000 sherry, wine and bourbon casks are currently maturing, while Akuto has begun experimentation to grow barley locally, hoping to produce a genuinely Japanese whisky. Ichiro also has the distinction of employing one of Japan’s last remaining coopers to maintain an on-site cooperage and train staff.
Examples of Ichiro Akuto’s excellent work can be purchased here, such as Ichiro's Malt & Grain and Ichiro's Malt Double Distilleries.