ARASIDE: A Little-Known Single Cask from the Second Year of Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu Distillery

2026.10.05

In short: “ARASIDE” is a rare single cask Japanese whisky distilled in 2010 — only the second year of Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu Distillery. The spirit was bought by Kenten Jitsugyo (later founder of Akkeshi Distillery), matured by Duncan Taylor in Glenrothes casks, and released via Hong Kong; a white label of 100 bottles was made for DFS. Both labels are at Bar Little Happiness in Hiroshima. By owner Mika Tanimoto.

Chichibu Distillery of Ichiro’s Malt — spirit from 2010 🥃

A stunning single cask, known only to those in the know, is on the counter at Little Happiness.

The bottle is called “ARASIDE.”

Many people may not have heard of it.
But for whisky fans, this one line should say it all —

“A single cask Japanese whisky distilled in only the second year after Chichibu Distillery started running.”

And on the back bar of Little Happiness, we still have both — the black label (304 bottles) and the white label (100 bottles) 🥃

This is their story.

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Chichibu Distillery and the beginning of Ichiro’s Malt

A Japanese whisky legend that began with “spirit that was going to be thrown away”

Chichibu Distillery in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture.

The pinnacle of Japanese craft whisky, the distillery with a passionate following among whisky collectors all over the world.

Its founder is Ichiro Akuto.

As you know, the “Ichiro” in Ichiro’s Malt comes from his name.

Ichiro Akuto’s history, in order

• 1965: born in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, into the Akuto family, sake brewers since the Edo period
• Tokyo University of Agriculture: after graduating from the Department of Brewing, joined Suntory
• Age 29: left Suntory at his father’s request to join the family sake brewery
• 1980s onward: learned whisky-making at the family’s Hanyu Distillery
• 2000: the family business went bankrupt
• 2004: after the business was transferred to another company, he bought and rescued the whisky spirit that was to be discarded, and founded Venture Whisky
• 2005: began selling the “Ichiro’s Malt” brand (bottlings of the rescued Hanyu spirit)
• 2006: gold medal in the UK Whisky Magazine’s Japanese malt feature
• November 2007: Chichibu Distillery completed
• February 2008: Chichibu Distillery began distilling in-house
• 2010: ← the spirit for “ARASIDE” was distilled here
• February 2012: released the first in-house malt, “Chichibu The First”
• 2017: world’s best in the Single Cask Single Malt category at the World Whiskies Awards
• March 2024: inducted into the UK Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame (the fifth Japanese person, and the youngest)

The decisive meaning of “distilled in 2010”

Here is what I want you to notice —

🥃 Chichibu Distillery started running in February 2008
🥃 The spirit for “ARASIDE” was distilled in 2010
🥃 The first in-house malt, “Chichibu The First,” was released in 2012

In other words, the spirit of “ARASIDE” is —

From only the second year after Chichibu Distillery started running.
Extremely early spirit, from before the world knew “Ichiro’s Malt = distilled in-house.”

That’s what it is 🥃

A cask from the very earliest days of Ichiro Akuto’s challenge.

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“ARASIDE” — a rare history told by the label

The bottle’s label says:

KENTEN WHISKY
ARASIDE 荒川
JAPANESE SINGLE CASK WHISKY
PRODUCED IN 2010 CHICHIBU-SHI, JAPAN
MATURED IN EX-GLENROTHES CASKS

Untangling that story one step at a time —

🌳 Step 1: distilled at Chichibu Distillery in 2010

Made by Ichiro Akuto, it came into the world as precious spirit from the second year after Chichibu Distillery started running.

🚢 Step 2: bought by spirit exporter Kenten Jitsugyo

The spirit was bought by Kenten Jitsugyo Co., Ltd. (Kenten Whisky Co., Ltd.), headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo.

Founded in 1964, it is a trading company that imports food ingredients and exports alcohol, and for many years it bought whisky spirit from distilleries in Japan and exported it to overseas markets.

“ARASIDE” is a Japanese whisky that Kenten Jitsugyo sent out into the world in its days as a spirit exporter.

Later, in October 2016, Kenten Jitsugyo started its own distillery, Akkeshi Distillery, in Akkeshi, Hokkaido, now one of the distilleries that represent Japanese craft whisky, highly acclaimed worldwide.

“ARASIDE” is also a bottle that symbolises Kenten Jitsugyo’s turning point, born from spirit distilled about six years before Akkeshi Distillery was built 🥃

“From buying spirit to making it ourselves.”

That resolve lives on behind the bottle.

🌍 Step 3: the spirit goes to Scotland

The Chichibu spirit that was bought crossed the sea to Scotland.

Where it went —

Duncan Taylor, in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

🎩 Who is Duncan Taylor?

“Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky Limited” is:

🥃 Founded in Glasgow, Scotland, on 27 May 1938 (later moved to Huntly)
🥃 One of the finest independent bottlers in the Scotch whisky industry
🥃 One of the largest privately owned Scotch cask collections in the world
🥃 Many of its casks come from legendary distilleries that are now closed
🥃 Home to well-known bottler brands such as The Rest, The Octave and Black Bull

An “independent bottler” is a specialist that doesn’t distil itself, but buys spirit and maturing casks from distilleries around the world, then matures and bottles them in its own way.

The Scotch whisky industry has several historic independent bottlers — Gordon & MacPhail, Cadenhead, Signatory and Duncan Taylor — all with passionate support from whisky lovers around the world.

Among them, Duncan Taylor is something like a living legend of the Scotch industry.

🛢️ Step 4: matured in Glenrothes casks

The Chichibu spirit matured in casks from Glenrothes Distillery, a renowned distillery in Speyside, Scotland.

🌏 Step 5: out to the world via Hong Kong

Once matured and bottled, “ARASIDE” went through an importer in Hong Kong to a limited number of markets worldwide.

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In other words,

“A spirit born in Chichibu crossed the sea, was polished by the finest bottler in the Scotch industry, and went out into the world again —”

An extremely rare bottle where top players crossed borders and met.

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The beautiful meaning of the name “ARASIDE”

“ARASIDE” — at first glance, an abstract name whose meaning isn’t obvious.

But look at the kanji on the bottle and the answer appears right away.

“荒川” (Arakawa)

Chichibu Distillery sits on the upper reaches of the Arakawa River in Saitama Prefecture.

In other words, “ARASIDE” means —

🥃 the SIDE of the ARA(kawa) — the banks of the Arakawa

Spirit born by Ichiro Akuto on the banks of the Arakawa travelled around Scotland and came back to Japan again.

The journey of the Chichibu spirit is engraved in the bottle’s very name.

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Casks that once held rare single malts

One reason this bottle is so rare lies in the cask itself 🥃

The back label of the white label says:

“This stunning spirit distilled in Japan has been matured in ex Scotch Whisky Distillery casks selected by Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky Ltd, arguably the world’s most premium Scotch Whisky merchant. The casks formerly held the rarest single malts from the best Scotch Whisky distillers.”

The point is —

The casks were chosen by Duncan Taylor, known as the world’s most premium Scotch whisky merchant, from ex-Scotch whisky distillery casks that once held the rarest single malts of the best distillers.

What matters here is that Duncan Taylor deliberately hand-picked “casks that once held the rarest single malts.”

In other words, this cask —

🌳 A storied cask that held single malt at a renowned Scottish distillery for many years
🌳 For the black label, a 1970 Glenrothes cask
🌳 And finally, it held Japan’s Chichibu spirit, “ARASIDE”

One cask, after a long maturation in Scotland, finally raised a young Japanese craft whisky.
That cask’s story lives on inside the bottle.

The words “EX-GLENROTHES 1970 CASK” on the black label carry particular weight.

“1970” — this means the cask had been used to mature Glenrothes since at least 1970.

🌳 A cask that held Glenrothes single malt for a long time, from 1970
🌳 In 2010, that cask welcomed young spirit from Chichibu Distillery

A cask that had matured Glenrothes for more than 40 years finally raised spirit from the dawn of Japanese craft whisky.

Scottish time and a young Japanese challenge, held in the cask itself, meet in a single glass.

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Black and white — two completely different single casks

What’s amazing is that the two bottles left at Little Happiness — black label and white label — were bottled from different casks: two completely separate single casks.

🥃 Black label (304 bottles)

KENTEN WHISKY ARASIDE 荒川 JAPANESE SINGLE CASK WHISKY PRODUCED IN 2010 CHICHIBU-SHI, JAPAN MATURED IN EX-GLENROTHES 1970 CASK 750ml / 55% vol

Features:

– Place of distillation: clearly stated as Chichibu (CHICHIBU-SHI, JAPAN)
– Maturation cask: a 1970 Glenrothes cask (even the year is stated)
– Limited to 304 bottles (one of which is at Little Happiness)

🥃 White label (100 bottles)

THE WHISKEY HOUSE WORLD EXCLUSIVE
ARASIDE 荒川
JAPANESE SINGLE CASK WHISKY
DISTILLED IN JAPAN
MATURED IN EX GLENROTHES CASKS
750ml / 55% vol
[Back label]
Distillation date: April 2010
Bottled date: April 2018
Cask Type: Ex Bourbon American Oak
Cask Number: 4
No. of bottles: 1 of 100

Features:


– Titled “THE WHISKEY HOUSE WORLD EXCLUSIVE”
– Distilled: April 2010
– Bottled: April 2018 (8 years old)
– Cask number: Cask #4
– Limited to 100 bottles (one of which came to Little Happiness)


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White label: 100 bottles born for “airport duty-free shops around the world”

The white label (100 bottles) has one more special story.

Its back label says:

> “Bottled exclusively in association with Kenten Whisky Akkeshi Distillery for The Whiskey House by DFS, hand selected for you.”

What is DFS?

“DFS (Duty Free Shoppers)” is a duty-free brand under the LVMH group that runs airport duty-free shops around the world.

In other words, the white label is —

> a bottle “made to reach only a limited number of discerning travellers at airports around the world.”

100 bottles, with casks chosen and bottled by Duncan Taylor, in the hope that they would reach only the hands of people who love whisky as they travel.

One of them is now sitting on the counter of Bar Little Happiness in Nagarekawa, Hiroshima.

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Chichibu, Kenten, Duncan Taylor, Glenrothes — a crossroads of the industry’s best

Inside this bottle:

🥃 Spirit from Chichibu Distillery (distilled in 2010 by Ichiro Akuto)
🥃 Produced by Kenten Jitsugyo (then a spirit exporter)
🥃 Duncan Taylor (the finest independent bottler in the Scotch industry, founded 1938)
🥃 A cask from Glenrothes Distillery (a renowned name in Speyside, Scotland)

— truly, top players from Japan and Scotland cross paths in a single bottle.

Only two years after Ichiro Akuto started Chichibu Distillery.
That young Chichibu spirit was bought by Kenten Jitsugyo, led by Keiichi Hida, which teamed up with Duncan Taylor, the world’s finest Scotch bottler, to send it out into the world —.

And at the same time, Mr. Hida himself had decided to build his own distillery in Akkeshi, Hokkaido.

You won’t easily find a bottle like this anywhere in the world.
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Two generations of Chichibu single cask at Little Happiness

On the back bar of Little Happiness, we have both:

🥃 ARASIDE black label (304 bottles)
🥃 ARASIDE white label (100 bottles, for DFS)

Precious spirit from only the second year after Chichibu Distillery started running.

Chances to experience the stories of those two casks at one counter are probably very few, even in all of Japan.

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Epilogue | Chichibu spirit in the glass

The journey of Venture Whisky began when Ichiro Akuto rescued Hanyu spirit that was going to be thrown away.

Chichibu Distillery started running in February 2008.
Just two years later, a single stream of spirit distilled in 2010 crossed the sea, was polished by the finest bottler in the Scotch industry, and travelled around the world —.


“Whisky is an art in which the makers’ stories, time and encounters converge into a single glass” — there may be few bottles these words suit so well 🥃


“Whisky and rum taste even better when you touch the hearts of the people who make them.”

Every encounter is meant to be.
Welcome to the world of Rum&Whisky 🥃