Chichibu Australia Edition 2026: Whisky Girl by Yosi Messiah
Author: Jose Dymenstein Date Posted:15 October 2026
Chichibu Australia Edition 2026: Whisky Girl by Yosi Messiah
The Chichibu Australia Edition 2026 arrives on 15 October, marking the third release in a series we created specifically for Australia.
Each edition has brought together whisky selected for the Australian market with original Australian artwork. This year we wanted to take the visual side of the project somewhere quite different.
We approached Sydney artist Yosi Messiah, whose Geisha paintings I had admired for some time, and asked him to create an original work for the 2026 bottle.
The result is Whisky Girl.
View Chichibu Australia Edition 2026
An Australian artwork for a Japanese whisky
One of the things we did not want to do was ask an Australian artist to imitate a Japanese design style simply because the whisky came from Japan.
Yosi already had a very distinctive body of work built around Geisha figures, so the brief was quite simple: keep the work recognisably his, but make it bright, vivid and colourful enough to work on the bottle.
The finished artwork was created in mixed media using silver and gold pigment. The figure was adapted to hold a whisky glass, while the background was developed to work alongside the amber colour of the whisky.
For Yosi, the subject carried its own meaning:
“To me Geishas represent refinement, elegance, beauty and strength.”
He also described the commission as something he connected with immediately:
“I loved the idea from the outset and felt humbled that my art was chosen to feature in this unique way.”
We have been using original artwork across some of our limited releases for a while, and the Australia Edition has become one of the projects where we can develop that idea further each year.
The third Chichibu Australia Edition
The 2026 release is the third Chichibu Australia Edition created specifically for the Australian market.
The first two editions featured watercolours by Melbourne artist Mark Cowell.
The Chichibu Australia Edition 2024 featured a Melbourne W-class tram, while the Chichibu Australia Edition 2025 moved the series to Sydney with the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
For 2026, changing both the artist and the medium was deliberate. Rather than creating a fixed house style for the series, we want each edition to give a different Australian artist room to interpret the project in their own way.
That makes the artwork part of the identity of each annual release rather than simply decoration added to the bottle.
The whisky
The 2026 Australia Edition is a Single Malt Japanese Whisky from Chichibu Distillery, bottled at 48.5% ABV.
It is an entirely non-peated six-cask vatting.
First-fill bourbon-barrel whisky forms the main component, alongside whisky matured in a combination of:
- Bourbon barrel
- Hogshead
- Chibidaru
- Local Chichibu red-wine cask
Chibidaru translates as “small cask” and is broadly equivalent in size to a Scotch quarter cask. The casks are made at Chichibu’s own cooperage.
Only 480 bottles were produced.
Chichibu’s tasting notes
The Chichibu team describes the nose with grapefruit, honey, orange peel, melon rind, lemon, mint and ginger.
On the palate there is apricot, apple, milk chocolate, lychee, grassland and cinnamon.
The finish is described as refreshing, mild and remarkably smooth.
There is plenty happening here, but the whisky remains very composed. The bourbon-barrel component provides the foundation, while the other cask types add layers rather than pulling the whisky in completely different directions.
For more background on the category, read our Japanese Whisky Guide .
Made for Australia
The Australia Edition has always been more than simply bringing a Chichibu whisky into the country and putting a different label on it.
The idea has been to create something specifically for our market, with a whisky and artwork that give each annual edition its own identity.
For 2026, that means a six-cask non-peated Chichibu paired with a work by an Australian artist whose existing style felt naturally suited to the project.
Chichibu Australia Edition 2026 is released in Australia on 15 October 2026, with an RRP of $385.
It will be available through Casa de Vinos and selected specialist whisky retailers around Australia, with the whisky also available by the glass at selected bars.
Chichibu Australia Edition 2026 details
- Distillery: Chichibu Distillery
- Category: Single Malt Japanese Whisky
- ABV: 48.5%
- Style: Non-peated
- Casks: Bourbon barrel, hogshead, Chibidaru and Chichibu red-wine cask
- Production: 480 bottles
- Artwork: Whisky Girl by Yosi Messiah
- Release date: 15 October 2026
- RRP: $385