Karuizawa 19 Years Old 1988 (The Whisky Fair)

Karuizawa distillery in Nagano Prefecture ran from 1956 to 2000 under Mercian before closing and being demolished in 2016. This 1988 vintage, one of two released by The Whisky Fair in 2007, was aged in an Oloroso sherry butt and bottled at 19 Years Old at a cask strength of 60.6%, released globally.

Where its companion release from the same year took the Ex-Bourbon and refill route, this expression followed Karuizawa's more typical path through an Oloroso sherry butt. The result is characteristic of the distillery at full sherry intensity: dark dried fruit, plum, leather and warm spice driven by the active sherry wood over 19 years in Nagano. At 60.6%, the bottling delivers that profile with full weight. Comparing the two 1988 Whisky Fair releases side by side illustrates clearly how cask selection alone shaped Karuizawa's character across its otherwise uniform production method.