Karuizawa 37 Years Old ElD (Elixir)

Karuizawa 37 Years Old is a single-cask single malt from Karuizawa distillery in Nagano Prefecture, bottled in 2018 by Elixir Distillers for the UK market at 56.9% cask strength. This bottling extends the Elixir series of aged Karuizawa releases into the upper reaches of the available stock, drawing on spirit distilled decades before the distillery closed in 2000 and spending 37 years in a single Oloroso sherry cask.

The extended sherry-cask maturation builds the dense, richly layered character Karuizawa is known for: dark dried fruit, leather and bitter chocolate, deepened by the savoury, incense-like quality that emerges from very long contact between Golden Promise malt and seasoned Spanish oak in Nagano's mountain climate. At 56.9% the whisky is concentrated but structured, with the extra years of maturation adding a further degree of complexity and integration. The sherry influence is deep and pervasive rather than sweet.