Karuizawa 24 Years Old 1983

Karuizawa was a small single malt distillery in Nagano Prefecture, active from 1956 until its closure in 2000 and demolished in 2016. Run by Mercian at the foot of the active Mt. Asama volcano, the distillery used small pot stills, imported Golden Promise barley and an unusually high proportion of Oloroso sherry casks, producing dark, richly sherried single malts of considerable rarity. This release was distilled in 1983 and matured for 24 years under Oloroso sherry influence before being bottled in 2007 for the Dutch market at cask strength.

At 24 years the sherry influence had already produced the typical Karuizawa signature: dark dried fruit, bitter chocolate, leather and warming spice, though at this age the spirit retains more of the distillery's underlying cereal and fruit character than the longest-aged releases. At 59% cask strength it is punchy and direct, one of the earlier vintage releases the distillery issued for European markets in the years before its growing global reputation drove demand sharply upward.