Karuizawa 15 Years Old

Karuizawa distillery operated at the foot of Mt. Asama in Nagano Prefecture from 1956 until its closure in 2000. Built on small pot stills and an unusually high proportion of Golden Promise barley, the distillery was defined above all by its heavy use of Spanish Oloroso sherry casks, which gave its whiskies a dark, dense and richly sherried character that collectors prize today.

This 15 Years Old single malt was matured in Oloroso sherry casks, the classic Karuizawa treatment, producing the dark dried fruit, leather and chocolate-edged palate that is typical of the house when sherry wood is given a decade and a half to work. Released at 40% abv for the global market, it is an approachable expression of a style the distillery was making before its closure left this stock as a fixed and diminishing archive.