Karuizawa 1981 Vintage (Bottled 2011) Cask 7925 / 59.6% / 0.7l
- Karuizawa Distillery fired the stills in February 1956. Almost entire early production went into Ocean whisky range, blended and marketed by Sanraku Ocean Company, then the distillery owner.
Product description
Karuizawa Distillery, commenced operation in February 1956.
Most of the early production went into the Ocean line of inexpensive blends put together by Sanraku Ocean Company, the distillery’s owner at the time. Karuizawa debuted as a whisky brand in July 1976, and was the first Japanese whisky to bear the “single malt” designation. The distillery suspended production on December 31, 2000, never to resume. Karuizawa was a tiny distillery, producing just 150,000 liters of spirit per year. In addition, the plant needed renovation and equipment replacement, and Kirin, which took over Karuizawa’s assets in 2006, was not interested in such an investment. The rest of the inventory, about 360 barrels, was purchased by Number One Drinks Company, most of which it released as single casks.
The Karuizawa presented here, distilled in 1981, spent three decades in sherry cask no. 7925 and was bottled at cask strength (59.6% abv) on October 19, 2011. Karuizawa holds the record for the sale of Japanese whisky – in March 2020, at an auction conducted by Sotheby's, a bottle of 52-year-old Karuizawa (distilled 1960, cask # 5627) found a buyer for the equivalent of $435,000.