SMWS 132.4 Karuizawa 17yo Karuizawa Distillery - Nagano Prefecture, Japan SMWS bottling (purchase link). WhiskyBase reference page

For info   Reviews on sshhh! aim to detail the flavours, feelings and quality of each dram, wrapped up in as little nonsense as possible (!). Each whisky is tried on its own and given time to speak out, even if they often talk gibberish.
 
Established in the mid-50s, Karuizawa was Japan's smallest distillery, and produced up until 2000, finally being closed in 2011. Its location was on the southern slopes of Mount Asama, a fact a few independant bottles reference. Generally has dry, sherried, often mushroomy output. - see Nonjatta - Karuizawa for a detailed profile.
 

Tastes & Smells
Oh wow! Sweet ham, "just beautiful in a glass", maple syrup, sweet yet woody and herby. So many great smells. Orange with cinnamon, sherry, alcoholy and dry, "the only smell you'd want to smell for the rest of your life". It's more of the same in the taste, but a little amplified: nectar, sweet peas, roses, a marriage of sweet sherry and casked & aged spirit. So dry, yet so sweet, bees 'hunting', garlic?, chicken soup, sweeties - delicious. After the same set of tastes dissipated, it didn't unfurl anything new - it was a little spirity (not in a great way), with a strong sherry finish. Still delicious, mind, just not groundbreaking.

Worth shouting about?
I arrived at the SMWS Queen Street venue to be told they had very little in stock at the moment. A popular outturn combined with it being late in the month, meant options were limited. "Oh, but we did just find a 129.1 (Kilchoman) and a 132.4 in a cupboard if you're interested?". BOOM. Neither were cheap (13 a dram..), but both are right up there in terms of my tastes. And at 17yo, this was my oldest Karuizawa yet. I tend to find the signature mushroomyness a bit much at times, preferring the woody Oloroso dryness you often get too. This was about 70:30 in favour of the latter, and a little floral as well, which surprised me. It was great, not brilliant. If I weren't tasting it next to that Kilchoman (8.35/10), I'd probably have raved a little more - with a slightly better finish, it would've equalled it.

Summary & Ramblings
This really didn't take me anywhere, it wasn't that kind of journey. It was just an enormously pleasant thing to taste, a woody Japanese treat. It's definitely a dram I'll remember for a long time, and one I'm unlikely to get to taste again. Turns out 17yo Karuizawa is something I rather enjoy..

NB: I downgraded the score of this from 8.25 to 8.1 after a few weeks to think about it and after trying this Hanyu. The Hanyu bettered this. but didn't better this Kilchoman, which I tried next to this Karuizawa.

Tasted on: 23/07/14 Bought: Just tasted. From: SMWS State: Pretty sober 8.1 4.3

"We found a bottle of this in the cupboard..."

tldr;
Dry and sweet, with honey and floral wisps in the taste. A real behemoth of flavour, and a real treat. Woody, sherried and sweet in very good ways - but perhaps a bit lacking on the finish.
 
 

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