Karuizawa Multi-Vintages # 1 Noh Whiskey /59.1% / 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 Multi-Vintages Noh Whisky presented here (the Noh series has 29 editions) is a blend of four bourbon and sherry barrels filled between 1981 and 1984 (one barrel from each year) bottled in cask strength in October 2011 for the Parisian La Maison du Whisky. The edition consisted of 1,500 bottles.

Nose : dried plums, figs and dates, blackberry jam, dark chocolate, coffee beans, almonds, nutmeg, old leather sofa, notes of Parma ham and oak.

Palate : full, dark chocolate, hazelnuts, toffee, honey, black cherries, plums, blackberries, nutmeg, black pepper, pipe tobacco, notes of leather, sherry and oak.

Finish : very long, with notes of sherry, oak, dried fruit, cocoa, a touch of mint, tobacco, leather and almonds.