A 50-year-old Karuizawa from bourbon barrel #8636, distilled in 1965 and bottled for the 60th anniversary of La Maison du Whisky in Paris. It came out at 62.6% as a limited edition of 199 bottles.
About This Whisky
La Maison du Whisky bought two 1965 casks, one sherry and one bourbon, and turned them into four releases. This is the bourbon half of the Monyou pair, named after the traditional Japanese craft of printed patterns and sold in a handmade fabric box. Part of the same cask also went into the Japonisme Edition, a 60-bottle vatting with sherry cask #2372. Expect ripe barley and a little chilli on the nose, cherries in brandy, then blood orange, lilac, mango and pineapple on the palate.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Ripe barley field and a little chilli, turning exotic, with a rancio note of cherries in brandy.
- Palate: Balanced and bright. Blood orange and purple lilac, then mango and pineapple.
- Finish: Tropical fruit, gentle oak and spice, lasting a long time.
Serving & Food
Pour 15mL into a stemmed nosing glass and leave it covered for a while, since 50-year-old spirit changes a lot in the glass. Water is optional and should go in by the drop. Serve with mango pudding, grilled pineapple or a plain almond financier.
How to Enjoy
Drinkers keen to taste the fruit-driven, bourbon-cask side of 1960s Karuizawa, or to pair it with the sherry cask Monyou.
Product Details
Distillery: Karuizawa (closed)
Country: Japan
Region: Miyota, Nagano
Series: Monyou Edition, La Maison du Whisky 60th Anniversary
Vintage: 1965
Age: 50 years old
Cask: Bourbon barrel #8636
Edition Size: 199 bottles
Category: Single cask Japanese single malt whisky
ABV: 62.6%
Volume: 700mL
About the Distillery
Karuizawa's early spirit was a different animal from the polished malt of later decades. Writers who know the stock well describe the 1960s casks as having a smoky, rugged streak, and the 1980s as the distillery's most complex period.
Sherry wood dominated for most of its life, and American oak ex-bourbon casks became more common only in the later years. A 1960s bourbon barrel that lasted fifty years is therefore an unusual survivor.