Karuizawa 29 Years Old 1983 Cask #5322 (LMDW)

Karuizawa distillery in Nagano Prefecture ran from 1956 until closure in 2000 and was demolished in 2016. It was defined by small pot stills, Golden Promise barley and a heavy reliance on Oloroso sherry casks, producing single malts of deep colour and rich dried-fruit character that became intensely sought after after the distillery's end. Cask #5322 was distilled in 1983 and matured for 29 years in an Oloroso Sherry Hogshead, a slightly smaller vessel than the more typical sherry butt, concentrating the spirit's extraction from the wood.

Bottled in 2013 by La Maison du Whisky for France at 59.4% cask strength, this single cask shows the dark, syrupy fruit, dried figs, leather and bitter chocolate that Karuizawa's Oloroso maturation produced at its most intense. The hogshead format and the full three decades in Nagano's mountain climate have left the spirit with both structure and considerable depth.