Karuizawa 30 Years Old 1985 Cask #2364 (LMDW)

Karuizawa was a single malt distillery in Nagano Prefecture, operating from 1956 until its closure in 2000 and subsequently demolished in 2016. Mercian ran the site using small pot stills and imported Golden Promise barley, with Oloroso sherry casks as the primary maturation vessel for most of its production. Cask #2364, distilled in 1985, represents one of the later vintages produced before closure and was matured for 30 years in an Ex-Sherry Cask before being bottled in 2015 by La Maison du Whisky for France.

At 55.2% cask strength after three decades in Ex-Sherry wood, the spirit is measured and refined, showing dried cherry, warm baking spice, leather and a persistent finish that carries both the sherry cask's contribution and the malt's underlying Golden Promise sweetness. The 1985 vintage, now over 30 years from distillation, represents some of the youngest Karuizawa reaching the market, and this LMDW bottling closed out that distillery's last active production decade in the same French-market programme that released several of its sibling casks.