Review: Chip Tate's First Foray into Japanese Single Malt

Chip Tate played a pivotal role in shaping the craft whiskey scene, especially in American single malt. As the founder of Texas-based Balcones Distillery, where he worked from 2008-2014, Tate produced many American single malts—the distillery's flagship Lineage (Batch SML20-2) went on to earn a place on our Top 20 list of 2020 with a score of 91 points. Nowadays Tate is busy developing the new spirits portfolio at Foley Family Wines & Spirits, but still also finds time to make whiskies elsewhere. Thanks to a collaboration with rare whisky purveyor World Whiskey Society (WWS), Tate recently made his first foray into Japanese whisky, which resulted in a new WWS release called Double Barrel Japanese Single Malt by Chip Tate.

The partnership kicked off late last year when WWS CEO Alex Kogan approached Tate with the idea of doing a project in Japanese whisky. Tate says he had long wanted to work with Japanese liquid, but had never been able to do so. He and Kogan started by tasting through dozens of samples from multiple producers before landing on a single malt from Nirasaki Distillery, a former sake brewery that's fairly new to the whisky game. WWS approached Nirasaki as a contract distillation source in 2020, and the whisky chosen for this expression was distilled entirely from Australian malted barley and aged for 3 years in third-fill bourbon barrels. Nirasaki also produces The Haiku single malt, which is imported through Alex Kogan's AIKO Brands.

With the whisky in hand, Tate set out to find an ideal finishing cask: something that could add new flavors without completely overshadowing the whisky’s profile. He ultimately picked casks that previously held two slightly different ruby ports, which he says can bring out umami flavors in a single malt, and kept the finish to 5 months to maintain balance. (Tate says that umami note makes the whisky good for pairing with sushi or other Japanese cuisine.) The label mentions that the whisky was finished in both ruby port and bourbon barrels, but Tate adds that it was only finished in ruby port casks.

Considering his background in making American single malt, one would expect Tate’s shift to Japanese single malt to be a bit of a culture shock. But that wasn’t the case. He notes that the liquid was “significantly different than most American single malt, but similar to some malts I made before.” He points to maturation as being a key difference between them, as Japan’s relatively mild climate is a far cry from the hellish temperatures faced by Texan whiskey makers.

The whisky retails at $120, and is currently available for purchase at the World Whiskey Society website. Like many WWS releases, this one was made in very limited quantities with around 600 bottles produced.

What Does the Whisky Taste Like?

On paper, there’s a lot that could’ve gone wrong with this whisky. For starters, it’s Tate’s first time stepping into the ring with Japanese whisky. He’s also working with a fairly young juice from a relatively unproven distillery, which was aged in third-fill casks—coupled with the fact that Japanese whisky generally has a delicate taste profile, which makes finishing tricky. But, in spite of all of that, we think Tate did well with this expression.

Tasting blind as always, our tasting panel tried this whisky alongside others from Japan, and they found that it holds itself quite well. Some panelists did find the finish to be a bit too aggressive, but the overall experience was positive—a whisky with a fair bit of complexity, and a remarkable level of smoothness for its proof point. The panel’s full notes are below:

World Whiskey Society Double Barrel Japanese Single Malt by Chip Tate, Reviewed

Score: 93
ABV: 51%
SRP: $120

A rustic nose, heavy with wine notes, plus barrel char, lemon peel, and brûléed key lime tart. The palate is spicy but also notably delicate and smooth for a 51% whisky, with red fruit from the wine barrel very present. The finish is delicately spiced and long, with vanilla, light pepper, and good complexity. A bit heavy on the finish at times, but balanced; a very good dram.—David Fleming

What’s Next for Chip Tate?

In January, Tate was named as master distiller for innovation at Foley Family Wines & Spirits, a California wine company led by entrepreneur Bill Foley who also owns the Vegas Golden Knights hockey team. Over the past year, the company has been riding full tilt into the expansion of its spirits side and tasked Tate with leading the charge.

Since then, there’s been a wave of acquisitions and expansions—including an exclusive partnership with scotch brand Loch Lomond—but things have been fairly quiet in terms of new releases. While discussing his new whisky, Tate gave us some insight into what he’s been working on at Foley.

Much of his time is centered on the Nevada-based Bentley Heritage Estate Distillery, which Foley acquired last May. Alongside the facilities and ranch, the sale also included Bentley’s whiskey inventory. Foley is slated to start bottling and releasing those stocks, which are around 5 years old, under the rechristened Minden Mill Distilling label. The long-term plan is to focus Minden Mill on making grain-to-glass American single malt. To facilitate that, Foley has drafted Joe O’Sullivan, former master distiller at Clear Creek in Oregon, to head things up at Minden. During O’Sullivan’s time at Clear Creek, he worked extensively on the high-scoring McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt brand.

Tate also has a few other irons in the fire. He’s working on a project that’ll see 6 year old high-rye and high-malt bourbon, all sourced from Kentucky, undergo a finish in re-toasted and charred wine casks from Foley’s wineries. He’s also planning to release a 15 year old bourbon finished in fortified wine casks, though he hasn’t revealed the cask types. He doesn’t plan to make any big changes to Charles Goodnight, Foley’s initial whiskey release, which scored 94 points with our tasting panel.

Tate is also making some moves outside the whiskey realm at Foley, with new mezcal and tequila offerings on the way. Details are scarce, but he disclosed that he’s doing distillation trials with pearl agave. Blanco bottlings are expected to be released in mid-2025, and reposado and añejo expressions are also planned to follow once the stocks come of age.

As for future collaborations outside the Foley family, Tate says to expect more of those as well. In fact, his second WWS collaborative bottling is already underway. It’ll be a high-rye bourbon that’s a bit older than the current release. He plans to finish it in a multitude of casks, including white port and armagnac, among others. It’s slated for release later this year or in early 2025.