Chichibu Takarabune 10 Year Old Review – The Treasure Is Inside the Bottle
I have a bit of history with this series. I used to work for Salud Spirits and during my time there I was lucky enough to get rather close to some truly exceptional whiskies. Few fascinated me quite as much as the Chichibu 7EVEN Gods of Fortune releases. Partly because I have enormous admiration for Chichibu, partly because the bottles themselves are spectacular, but mostly because every time I actually got to taste one, the liquid seemed perfectly capable of living up to all that theatre surrounding it.
So when Salud offered me a sample of Takarabune to review for DRAM1, I didn’t exactly need much convincing. Chichibu is one of those distilleries I have admired from afar for years, and what Ichiro Akuto has achieved there in such a relatively short period of time is extraordinary. From saving the remaining stocks of his family’s Hanyu Distillery to building Chichibu into one of the most coveted names in world whisky, he has become something of a rockstar in Japanese whisky. And yes, I know calling a Master Distiller a rockstar sounds a little silly, but with Ichiro I’ll happily stand by it.
The 7EVEN Gods of Fortune series started back in 2022 and was built around the Shichifukujin, the Seven Lucky Gods of Japanese mythology. Ebisu, Hotei, Bishamonten, Benzaiten, Fukurokuju, Daikokuten and Jurojin each received their own Chichibu release, with Salud pairing these seriously exclusive single casks with equally striking artwork.
Takarabune is the final piece of that puzzle. The Takarabune, or Treasure Ship, is traditionally depicted carrying the Seven Lucky Gods together, laden with treasures and bringing happiness and good fortune. It therefore seems rather fitting that instead of introducing another individual god, this final release brings all seven together aboard the same ship.
Nice story, beautiful bottle and ridiculously collectible. But I had a sample rather than a bottle sitting in front of me, so there was only one sensible thing to do with it: drink the bloody thing.
Listen to the review:
Tasting Notes: Chichibu Takarabune 10 Year Old
Stats
- Distillery: Chichibu Distillery
- Bottling: Takarabune – 7EVEN Gods of Fortune
- Age: 10 Years Old
- Cask: First Fill Bourbon Barrel
- ABV: 64.7%
- Outturn: 144 bottles
- Colour: Natural
- Chill Filtration: None
- Flavour Profile: Fruit Orchard Symphony
Ten years in a first fill bourbon barrel, bottled at a rather serious 64.7% ABV and limited to just 144 bottles. With Chichibu’s reputation and the collectability of this series, you don’t need me to explain what those numbers are going to mean for availability or price. Thankfully, I wasn’t looking at an auction listing. I was looking at a glass.
Nose
Belgian waffles with butter are my first thought, and frankly, we’re off to a pretty decent start. There are pear drops alongside them before pineapple appears, dusted generously with brown sugar and softly roasted on a barbecue, just long enough to start caramelising those sugars while retaining that juicy tropical freshness underneath.
And then the whisky starts wandering off in completely different directions. Rose-scented candles, fresh hibiscus tea, wild peaches and lychee mochi all start appearing. Every time I go back, something seems to have shifted. The tropical fruit moves into florals, the florals back towards confectionery, and then suddenly that caramelised pineapple pops its head up again. At 64.7% you might expect the alcohol to demand at least some of your attention, but instead I find myself mostly chasing aromas around the glass.
It’s beautifully complex, but more importantly, it’s constantly evolving. My friend Tony likes to say that the best whiskies “take you on a journey of which the destination is unknown”, and I’ve heard him say it often enough that I occasionally give him some grief for it. Sorry Tony, you were right. This one proves it and takes you on an epic journey.
Palate
Date syrup-covered madeleines with pecans and beurre noisette make for a wonderfully rich, nutty and buttery arrival. Then comes crème brûlée, particularly that wonderfully dark toasted caramel on top, accompanied by just a little passion fruit that cuts through all that richness.
The pear drops from the nose return too, but it’s the pineapple that really grabs me again. This time I picture it soaked in honey, grilled with rum and served warm with vanilla ice cream slowly melting over the top. I realise I’m essentially describing half a dessert menu by now, but that’s genuinely where this whisky keeps taking me.
It’s sweet, luscious and utterly mouthwatering. The palate perhaps isn’t quite as complex as that spectacular nose, but I’m not sure I care. There’s so much pleasure in what it does offer that dissecting it any further almost feels counterproductive. Sometimes I don’t need a whisky to reveal another clever little layer; sometimes I just want another sip, and I definitely want another sip of this.
Finish
The finish is long, very long, beginning with oolong tea sweetened with Manuka honey that lingers softly as the richer sweetness of the palate begins to retreat. Gradually, dried and candied apricots join in and allow that fruitiness to hang around without returning to the overt tropical sweetness from before.
Then there is a soft tinkling of red pepper, just enough spice to add another dimension without disturbing the gentler tea and fruit notes. Dark chocolate-covered candied orange peel eventually joins it, bringing bitterness, citrus and cocoa and giving the finish considerably more depth. It’s the sort of finish that makes me wait before taking another sip, not because I don’t want one, but simply because the previous one hasn’t finished yet.
Food Pairing
I’m normally more than happy to play around with food pairings, but if somebody gives me Chichibu Takarabune I’m not distracting myself by sticking a piece of cheese next to it. There is already more than enough happening in the glass and I would much rather give the whisky my complete attention.
Give me Takarabune, a comfortable chair, enough time to properly nose it between sips and perhaps someone equally whisky-obsessed to share it with. That’ll do nicely.
Who Is Chichibu Takarabune For?
This is where this Chichibu Takarabune gets slightly painful for me, because I absolutely bloody love it. I’ve tasted several releases from this series over the years, including during my time working for Salud, and the quality of the whisky has always been the thing that impressed me most. Yes, the bottles are beautiful. Yes, Chichibu carries enormous prestige. Yes, the quantities are tiny and the collectability is through the roof. But underneath all of that is some genuinely phenomenal whisky.
And that’s exactly what makes these bottles being so far outside my own price range hurt considerably more. If I tasted this and thought it was merely good whisky wrapped in rarity and hype, I could shrug my shoulders and move on. I can’t do that here. Takarabune is precisely the sort of whisky I want to drink. The sort of dram I could happily spend an entire evening with, pouring a little, nosing it for far too long, going back ten minutes later and discovering something I hadn’t noticed before.
Unfortunately, with only 144 bottles in existence and the prices these releases command, I suspect an awful lot of Takarabune will never experience that kind of evening. Some bottles will disappear into collections and others will become investments, changing hands while the cork remains firmly where it is. I understand why; rarity is rarity, and nobody buying a bottle at this level needs me telling them what to do with it. It just feels like a terrible shame, because this isn’t merely a beautiful object worth owning. It’s a bloody fantastic whisky worth drinking.
Verdict
This is exceptional, and the nose in particular is stunning. Belgian waffles, butter, caramelised pineapple, pear drops, rose, hibiscus, wild peaches and lychee mochi sounds almost comically elaborate written down, but that’s genuinely how much I found going on in the glass. It changes, develops and rewards you for taking your time with it.
The palate becomes more indulgent than cerebral, with date syrup, madeleines, pecans, beurre noisette, crème brûlée, passion fruit and that gorgeous honey-and-rum grilled pineapple. It is perhaps a little less complex than the nose, but absolutely delicious, before that wonderfully long finish brings oolong tea, Manuka honey, apricots, pepper, chocolate and candied orange peel and allows the whole experience to slowly fade away rather than simply stop.
Perhaps most impressive is how little that formidable 64.7% ABV dominates the experience. You certainly know you’re drinking something powerful, but the alcohol never becomes the story. With this much flavour, complexity and sheer pleasure fighting for my attention, it never really stood a chance.
Final Thoughts
I’m genuinely grateful to Salud for giving me the opportunity to taste Takarabune. Having worked there myself in the past, I obviously have a connection with the people behind this series, but these days I’m sitting here with dram1, a small sample in front of me and the freedom to simply judge the whisky that’s in my glass. And what I want to say about it is frustratingly simple: I wish I could afford this stuff.
Not because I want Takarabune sitting untouched on a shelf, because owning one of only 144 bottles would be particularly impressive or because I’d want to put it away and hope somebody pays me considerably more for it ten years from now. I’d want one because I’d open it. I’d share it with friends, probably annoy Tony by admitting once again that his bloody “journey” description was right, pour myself another glass a few months later to see whether I still found Belgian waffles and lychee mochi, and eventually I’d reach the bottom of the bottle.
That, to me, is the only genuinely sad thing about whisky this rare and expensive. Takarabune has been created as treasure and will inevitably be treated as treasure, but having actually tasted it, I think the greatest shame would be forgetting what all that treasure is ultimately supposed to contain.
Whisky. Really, really bloody good whisky.
And whisky is made to be enjoyed.
