Fans of ‘Ichiro’s Malt’ Japanese Whisky Should Not Miss This Special Tour!

Your chance to ride the 52 Seats of Happiness train and tour the Venture Whisky Chichibu Distillery

Venture Whisky Chichibu Distillery — Photo Courtesy of Chichibu Omotenashi Kankokosha.

I have been obsessed with Chichibu. Not only is it close to Tokyo (only 1 hr 17 minutes from Ikeburo station), it has so much charm that people are not aware of.

I previously wrote about fantastic festivals like 3 Great Float Festivals in Kanto Region you shouldn’t miss and Oiran Parade. In addition to many festivals, Chichibu has many wonderful sake breweries including Yao Honten, Bukou, and Nagatorogura, 2 wineries: Chichibu wine and Usagida, Chichibu beer, Mead (Deerlet Field Brewery), and of course, the most famous, Venture Whisky Chichibu Distillery ‘Ichiro’s Malt’ that has received numerous awards in the whisky world.

I am excited to join the upcoming January 25 — 26 tour on a special chartered dining train called 52 Seats of Happiness. (A fantastic lunch will be served together with Ichiro’s malt whisky pairing.)

52 Seats of Happiness — special dining train by Seibu. Photo Courtesy of Chichibu Omotenashi Kankokosha.

Special dining train 52 Seats of Happiness — Photo courtesy of Chichibu Omotenashi Kankokosha

Venture Whisky Chichibu Distillery is not open to the public. If you miss this opportunity, you won’t be able to see inside of Venture Whisky otherwise. Also, the Chichibu tourism board, Omotenashi Kankokosha Kanpai Republic, is generous enough to offer this special whisky bottle to each participant that is not avaialble for purchase. Priceless. If you are interested, here is the official tour schedule.

52 Seats of Happiness special bottle, Single malt — Photo courtesy of Chichibu Omotenashi Kankokosha

There are only a few spots remaining and only foreign nationals are eligible to join. (An accompanying person can be a Japanese national like me, but a foreign national must book the tour since this is a tourism board project and they will check your passport.)

There is another tour run by the Chichibu tourism board on Feb 7–9 featuring Venture Whisky Chichibu Distillery Ichiro’s Malt with Chichibu’s nature including a Nagataro river boat ride, BBQ at a camping site, and visits to Ashigakubo icicles and an onsen hot springs.

Experience making your own coasters

BBQ at camping site

Even though we won’t have the opportunity to dine in the special dining train for the February tour, we will get to visit Venture Whisky Chichibu Distillery and go bar hopping with whisky experts. Experiencing the Nagatoro river cruise, BBQ in nature, and watching beautiful icicles is a great way to see what Chichibu has to offer. The details can be found here.

Nagatoro River Cruise (Photo by Kyoko)

Ashigakubo Icicles (Photo by Kyoko) — night time will be light up.

Ashigakubo icicle night display (Photo by Kyoko)

There will be an English tour guide on both the January 25 — 26 and February 5–7 tours and chartered cars on both.

I plan to be on both tours. Hope to see you there!