Chita Distillers Reserve

Chita is the Japanese drinks giant Suntory’s main grain whisky distillery. Founded in 1972 by Shinjiro Torii’s son Seizo Kaji, who was Suntory’s second Master Blender, Chita is located in the Aichi Prefecture in the centre of Japan, approximately equidistant from Hakushu and Yamazaki malt distilleries and Suntory’s enormous Omi maturation facility in Shiga. In 2022, Chita’s 50th anniversary year, Suntory announced a 10 billion yen expansion for the distillery.

Chita is equipped with a very large multi-column distillation setup and uses four columns producing three types of grain whisky - a heavy style distilled over two columns, a medium spirit that uses three columns and a light spirit that uses all four. Almost the entirety of Chita’s output is destined for Suntory’s blends such as Hibiki, Old Suntory and Kakubin, but the first official bottling of Chita’s single grain whisky was launched in 2015 to general acclaim. 

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.