Karuizawa Distillery 42 Year Old Distilled 1967 Single Cask La Maison du Whisky Vintage Single Malt Japanese Whisky ABV 58.4% Vol 70cl /700ml

DESCRIPTION

1967 Karuizawa released in 2009 for the 10th anniversary of The Whisky Exchange. This bottling is remarkable for its sherry and peaty character. Not only is it very rare, this is also one of the oldest Karuizawas ever bottled, and one that scored 95 points on WhiskyFun.

Karuizawa was founded in 1955 and was Japan’s smallest whisky distillery. In 1959, they became the first distillery to export whisky overseas.
Karuizawa used the famous Golden Promise barley, which was peated, then the spirit was distilled in small batches and aged in the finest Spanish sherry casks to make some of the best whisky in the world.
Sadly, Karuizawa distillery stopped production in 2000 and closed for good in 2011.

TASTING NOTES (by Whiskyfun.com)

A cask that’s been shared between these two famous high-end whisky retailers that are Paris’ LMdW and London’s TWE. Colour: dark amber. Nose: this oldie is much more ‘tertiary’ than the 1972 when neat, much more on old leather, precious wood, dry sherry, pipe tobacco, Cuban cigars (in truth, a whole humidor), cedar wood, cough syrup, plum jam, very old Armagnac, a little tar, even whiffs of engine oil… What an amazing complexity! With water: it’s got everything an old sherried wonder can have. Spectacular whiffs of aniseed and dill, a little more beefy notes, absolutely no sulphur whatsoever. Enough said. Mouth (neat): unexpectedly nervous, with a big but beautiful oakiness (typical notes of pine resin than one can find in very, very old whiskies), a lot of walnut liqueur, bitter chocolate, cherry stem tea, chewing tobacco, heavy liquorice, prunes, green tea from the oak, blackcurrant leaves tea… With water: I’m speechless. One of these very old pu-erh teas (yes, I know pu-erh is Chinese, not Japanese). Finish: very long, superbly dry (coffee) and spicy (cloves) as well as beautifully raisiny. Some menthol. Comments: once again, this baby reminds me of some old Springbanks. Say of the best sherried ‘Local Barleys’, if that rings a bell to you. A Japanese masterpiece but the 1972 was close! SGP:473 - 95 points.

PRODUCT SUMMARY