Karuizawa 17 Years Old 1999

Karuizawa distillery in Nagano Prefecture operated under Mercian's ownership from 1956 until closure in 2000, building its profile on small pot stills, Golden Promise barley and a predominant use of Oloroso sherry casks. Demolition of the site followed in 2016, and releases since closure have been allocated to specific markets through the distillery's custodians. This 17 Years Old single cask from the 1999 vintage was bottled in 2016 for the Japanese domestic market.

Seventeen years in an Oloroso sherry cask developed the full Karuizawa profile: concentrated dark cherry, dried fig, cocoa and the leather-and-tobacco depth that grew more complex the longer the spirit sat in sherry wood. At 60.3% the release presents without reduction, preserving the full richness of a sherry-matured single cask from one of the final distillation years before the site fell silent.