Karuizawa 19 Years Old 1988

Karuizawa closed its Nagano Prefecture distillery in 2000, and the single casks that remained were released carefully over the following years, each one a fixed point in time from the distillery's last decades of production. This release is a 1988 vintage single cask drawn from an Oloroso sherry butt, aged 19 years and bottled in 2007 at cask strength of 59.3% for the Swedish market.

Oloroso sherry butts were the dominant wood at Karuizawa, and 19 years in one of them builds dark cherry, fig paste and warm leather over the Golden Promise malt base. The density of the spirit amplifies the wood's contribution, giving a malt with the rich, fruit-cake weight and grip that defines the distillery style. At close to 60% it is bold but composed, with the sherry influence integrated rather than overriding.