Karuizawa 30 Years Old 1984 Cask #5410 (LMDW)

Karuizawa was a single malt distillery in Nagano Prefecture, producing whisky from 1956 until its closure in 2000 and demolition in 2016. Run by Mercian with small pot stills and imported Golden Promise barley, it built its reputation on sherry-cask maturation, though the range of cask histories across its surviving stock covers a broad spectrum of wood influence. Cask #5410 was distilled in 1984 and matured for 30 years in an Ex-Sherry Cask before being bottled in 2015 by La Maison du Whisky for France at 57.7% cask strength.

Three decades in Ex-Sherry wood produced a whisky with a dried-fruit core, warm spice and the soft leather note that is characteristic of Karuizawa's sherry-influenced releases. At 30 years the integration of wood and spirit is complete, with no harsh edges and a long, layered finish that speaks to the sustained patience of Nagano maturation over a full three decades. This is one of the later vintage-release bottlings from La Maison du Whisky's Karuizawa programme.