Chita 2009 SMWS 4 Year Old G13.1

The Chita grain distillery was opened in 1972, and was Suntory’s second distillery. Previously its malt and grain had been produced at Yamazaki, but Chita was tasked with sole responsibility for the latter during the company’s expansions that decade, which saw its second malt distillery, Hakushu, opened the following year. Although it is primarily tasked with the provision of Suntory blends, The Chita single grain brand was launched in 2015.

This Chita was distilled in October 2009 and matured in a single virgin oak puncheon for 4 years. It was bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. This was the first cask of Chita that the SMWS had ever bottled.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) was founded in 1983 by a group of friends lead by tax accountant Phillip ‘Pip’ Hills as a private members club. The concept behind the society was to source casks from all over Scotland which would then be bottled and made available exclusively to its members. Perhaps the most famous feature of these bottles are the unique codes. Each distillery is represented by a different number and the following digits indicate that particular release. That same year, the SMWS set up its first location in Leith’s Vault buildings in Edinburgh where it still stands today.

One of 622 bottles.