A 33-year-old Karuizawa from sherry cask #136, distilled in March 1981 and bottled in July 2014 at 55.3%. This Kairaku-en presentation was a small edition prepared for the Polish firm Wealth Solutions.
About This Whisky
Cask #136 was bottled for La Maison du Whisky as part of the Artifices series, with a label by the Singapore-based artist Warren Khong. A small number of bottles from the same cask were later dressed as Kairaku-en for Wealth Solutions, in an original wooden case. The name refers to the public strolling garden created in Mito in 1841 by the feudal lord Tokugawa Nariaki, often counted among Japan's three great gardens. The whisky is textbook 1981 Karuizawa: sherry butt, cask strength and more than three decades in wood.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Dark cherry, dried plum and lacquered wood, with cocoa and incense.
- Palate: Dense and savoury. Raisin, tobacco leaf and bitter chocolate over resinous oak.
- Finish: Clove, dried fruit and old wood, slow to fade.
Serving & Food
Use a copita and pour at room temperature. It is approachable neat at 55.3%, and a little water brings out the cherry. Try it with plum-glazed pork belly, a mature Cheddar or chocolate-dipped orange peel.
How to Enjoy
Drinkers after a classic 1981 sherry Karuizawa in a less common presentation.
Product Details
Distillery: Karuizawa (closed)
Country: Japan
Region: Miyota, Nagano
Edition: Kairaku-en, for Wealth Solutions
Distilled: March 1981
Bottled: July 2014
Age: 33 years old
Cask: Sherry cask #136
Presentation: Original wooden case
ABV: 55.3%
Volume: 700mL
About the Distillery
Number One Drinks was founded in 2006 by David Croll and Marcin Miller as an importer of Japanese whisky into Europe. After production stopped they bought a large part of the remaining Karuizawa stock and released it through shops, importers and private buyers.
Their bottlings, from the Noh series to art-label editions, did much to make the name known outside Japan. In 2011 they passed their remaining casks to the Taiwanese collector Eric Huang.