Karuizawa Spirit of Asama (TWE)

Karuizawa Spirit of Asama is a single malt from Karuizawa distillery in Nagano Prefecture, an independent bottling released in 2012 by The Whisky Exchange for the UK market at 55% cask strength. The name references Mt. Asama, the active volcano at the foot of which the Karuizawa distillery operated from 1956 until closure in 2000. The Spirit of Asama series gave the UK market some of its earliest access to the depth that Karuizawa's closed-distillery stock could produce.

Matured in Ex-Bourbon casks, the whisky nevertheless shows the sherried character the distillery was renowned for, likely from the long ageing of spirit that spent time in previously sherry-seasoned wood. The flavour profile runs to leather, old wood, nutty bitterness, dark chocolate and dried fruit, with a rounded structure at 55%. It is a study in the complexity that Karuizawa's small pot stills and Golden Promise base generate under the patient hand of long maturation.