Ichiro's Malt Mizunara Wood Reserve Blended Malt Whisky 700ml | 46.5% ABV

Mizunara Wood Reserve, often shortened to MWR, is one of the three established Leaf Series blends associated with Chichibu Distillery. It combines Chichibu malt with selected malt whiskies from outside Japan, adding breadth while keeping Ichiro Akuto's blending style at the centre.

Chichibu itself began production in 2008, four years after Ichiro Akuto founded Venture Whisky Ltd. in 2004. The distillery has built its reputation on hands-on methods including floor malting, direct-fired stills and local barley cultivation projects — techniques most producers moved away from long ago.

The component whiskies are matured mainly in ex-bourbon barrels and sherry butts before final integration in a bespoke mizunara vat. Mizunara, Japan's native oak, is difficult to season and work with, but it can contribute aromatic notes of sandalwood, incense, coconut and dry spice. This is a blended malt whisky, not a Chichibu single malt.

The whisky opens with malt, orchard fruit and vanilla before moving into sandalwood, coconut, incense-like oak and gentle baking spice. The palate balances soft fruit with increasingly aromatic wood, while the finish remains dry, fragrant and lightly spicy.

Bottled at 46.5% ABV without an age statement, MWR is a useful introduction to mizunara influence without the intensity or pricing of a single-cask Japanese oak release.

Within the Leaf Series, this is the most directly wood-focused expression. It is best compared with Double Distilleries and Wine Wood Reserve to see how the same blending house uses heritage malt, mizunara and wine casks to create three distinct profiles.