Ichiro’s Malt, Mizunara Wood Reserve (bottled 2010)

The Ichiro of the title is Ichiro Akuto scion of the family which owned the now demolished Hanyu distillery and proprietor of the brand new and incredibly cute (yes…distilleries can be cute) Chichibu distillery — even the name’s cute.

This release is a vatting of different (un-named) single malts from more than one distillery which have been aged in Japanese oak (mizunara or Q.Mongolica). Mizunara has a highly distinctive aromatic spectrum — the Japanese say that it smells of temples specifically the incense which scents Zen temples but while totally accurate that’s not much help if you haven’t been to one. Think of a heavy exotic aroma of allspice sandalwood even redwood and you’re almost there. In fact if you think of the perfumed aspects of rye but turned up a notch then you’re in the right ballpark. In this one there’s even a hint of trail bar — maybe it’s a hike in a California old-growth forest.