Saturday 10 December 2016

Karuizawa 1983: TWE Show Report

Hi everyone,

I knew I wanted to try this at the show. 
Karuizawa. A name some will never have heard of, others start to drool at it's mention.
Karuizawa. A distillery built by a volcano. Some say the Macallan of Japan. 
Karuizawa. Men have lost themselves in it's Sherried depths, others have gone mad searching for those Noh bottlings. 
Karuizawa. A name I won't soon forget.

This cost me 4 dream drams (£40) but that's pretty cheap for an early 80's Sherry Karuizawa. This was a private bottling by Number 1 Drinks Co. (who own the Karuizawa stocks). I got this at the scotchwhiskyauctions.com table.

Karuizawa 1983 Private Bottling 59.1%
Colour: Dark Amber
Body: Full
Nose: Dark and brooding. Earthy Sherry, some vanilla, sweet figs, dates, a little meaty, complex spice. Really complex.
Water: More complex (if that is possible!), wood and spice integration, more earthy, forest floor, autumnal, a beautiful black cherry note.
Taste: Mega. Sweet and complex, figs, raisin, spices, huge Sherry, really rich, mouth watering, cinnamon, ginger, wood spice.
Water: Softer but huge still, more paced out and longer development, long Sherry and stewed fruit, earthy, goes on and on. Chewy.
Finish: Long length. Sherry, spice, little oak, dunnage. Water softens with more soft spices and dunnage wood, oak.
92/100

Hugely complex, integrated, balanced and powerful.
Maybe not worth the huge prices these are fetching, but at least I know why now.

Review #213

Network Average: 75.5
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent

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