Karuizawa 41 Years Old 1970 Cask #1985 (LMDW)

Karuizawa distillery in Nagano Prefecture, open from 1956 until its closure in 2000, distilled a spirit that could age in unexpected directions when placed in American oak rather than its more common sherry wood. This single cask, number 1985, was distilled in 1970 and held in a Bourbon barrel for 41 years before bottling at cask strength in 2011 for La Maison du Whisky, for an event market, at 59.1% abv.

The flavour data here records a coal-gas note, a specific and uncommon descriptor associated with very old, heavily reduced spirit in aged American oak, alongside the typical old-barrel character of wax, vanilla and dried cereal. At over 40 years in wood, bourbon-cask Karuizawa develops an almost mineral, reductive quality that sets these releases apart from both the younger bourbon expressions and the sherry-dominant single casks. A technically fascinating bottling that documents how the distillery's spirit aged when the sherry tradition was set aside.