Karuizawa 32-year-old (D.1980, B.2013) Cask #3565 Sherry Butt Noh Whiskey / 59.2% / 0.7l

Karuizawa Distillery began operation in February 1956.

Most of the production went into inexpensive Ocean blends put together by Sanraku Ocean Company, the distillery's owner at the time. Karuizawa "brand" debuted in July 1976 and was the first Japanese whisky labeled as a "single malt". The distillery suspended production on December 31, 2000 and never resumed it. Karuizawa was a small distillery, capable of producing 150,000 liters of distillate per year, and when it was taken over by Kirin (2006) it required renovation and replacement of equipment, and the new owner was not interested in that. The Karuizawa Noh Whisky presented here (the Noh series has 29 editions), distilled in 1980, spent 32 years in a sherry cask type butt no. 3565, and was bottled at cask strength (59.2% abv) in an edition of 335 bottles.

Aroma : coffee beans, dark chocolate, soy sauce, oranges, mango, sesame seeds, grilled vegetables, nutmeg, traces of shoe polish and oak.

Taste : oily, dried plums, blueberries and cherries, nutmeg, black pepper, dark chocolate, a drop of balsamic vinaigrette, tobacco, leather, oak and a fleeting hint of sulfur.

Finish: very long, with notes of dried fruit, cocoa powder, dried herbs, tobacco, leather, oak and a touch of sulfur.