Karuizawa 29 Years Old 1984

Karuizawa was a single malt distillery at the foot of Mt. Asama in Nagano Prefecture, operating from 1956 until its closure in 2000 and demolished in 2016. Run by Mercian, the distillery became synonymous with deep Oloroso sherry maturation, small pot stills and imported Golden Promise barley, producing single malts of a richness and darkness rarely seen from Japanese production. This official single cask was distilled in 1984, matured for 29 years in a Spanish Oak Oloroso Sherry Butt and bottled in 2014 by the distillery itself for an event release at cask strength.

Spanish oak in Oloroso service and 29 years of Nagano maturation combined to produce the house character in full: sherried dried fruit, fruitcake, bitter chocolate, leather and a warming wood spice that is deeply integrated by the time of bottling. The official distillery-bottled status and event provenance make this a less common configuration among Karuizawa single cask releases, most of which reached market through independent bottlers.