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Karuizawa 1981-2011 - Single Cask 2077
Karuizawa 1981 - 2011. Cask number 2077. Matured in a Sherry Cask. 70cl. 56.4%.
Another magnificent old single sherry cask of Karuizawa Japanese single malt whisky from the famous 1981 vintage, this was released by specialist indie bottlers Number One Drinks as a 29-year-old or 30-year-old in 2011 at its hefty natural cask strength of 56.4%.
It’s difficult to overstate the seismic effect that these old Karuizawa sherry casks had in the couple of years around the turn of the Noughties when every month seemed to bring yet another otherworldly Japanese sherry cask to the UK or European drinks scene.
The 1981 and 1984 vintages were the pick of the decade for Karuizawa and these Number One Drinks bottlings captured the best of them in their peak years, though many of them went to European retailers and are increasingly difficult to find nowadays. An unsurpassed Japanese single malt whisky whose only competition comes from its own sister casks, among which any connoisseur privileged enough to encounter them must try and find their own first among equals.
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.