End Date : Feb 19 2025 08:55 PM
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Karuizawa 1972 - 2011. Cask number 7038. One of 523 bottles matured in a Sherry Butt. 70cl. 63.3%. In presentation box.
A single cask edition of Karuizawa 1972, one of the rarest of all of the classic 1970s vintages from the legendary closed Japanese distillery. This edition, one of just five known bottlings of the 1972 vintage, was bottled from one of the distillery’s magnificent sherry butts by Number One Drinks towards the end of 2011, at the height of the early craze for Japanese single malt whisky, at its extraordinary natural cask strength of 63.3%.
The Karuizawa distillery was originally a winery built by Daikoku Budoshu in the mountains of the ski resort town of the same name in Japan’s Nagano prefecture in 1935. In the 1950s direct-fired pot stills were added at Karuizawa and the distillery began making whisky in 1956, producing spirit for Daikoku’s Ocean blend.
Karuizawa tried to emulate the finest Scottish distilleries, using Golden Promise barley and high quality sherry casks. Sadly, with the domestic market in decline, Karuizawa ceased production in 2000 and was later demolished by owners Kirin, who bought Mercian in 2006. Soon afterwards, a series of extraordinary casks were bottled by Number One Drinks, and Karuizawa’s whiskies subsequently soared in value. In 2020 a new Karuizawa Distillers company fronted by Kavalan alumnus Ian Chang revealed that they would be building a distillery at Komoro near Karuizawa.
Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.
This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.
| BID | DATE | TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|
| £2,600.00 | 19th February 2025 | 14:26 | |
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