Karuizawa

Karuizawa 'Emerald Geisha' 35 Year Old Single Cask Malt Whisky (118.2pf)

Tasting Notes

Nose
Caramel wafers in a cloud of incense – savoury, perfumed and sweet perfectly balanced. Sultanas follow, with oaky spice: nutmeg, cinnamon sticks and freshly sawn damp oak. Autumnal flavours of leaves and fragrant forests build, with a side order of sweet and spicy vanilla, and sweet butter. A drop of water dampens the incense and brings out subtle tropical fruit: pineapple and mango.

Palate
Spiced butter leads, with cinnamon and anise heat rolling in behind alongside sticky vanilla and caramel. Sharp apple bursts through but is tempered by bitter char and toffee sweetness. Savoury turmeric notes and incense build through the sweetness. Water tones down the buttery hit at the front of the palate, and reveals layers of spice and fruit: banana, menthol and ripe apples.

Finish
Soft apple fades to char and sweet woody spice. Earthy rancio lingers long at the back of the palate, slowly sweetening.

Karuizawa is the gold standard of rare Japanese whisky.

The distillery closed its doors in 2011, although it had not been producing whisky for over a decade. This particular discontinued 12 years old whisky 2001 won a Gold Medal in the Best Whisky of IWSC.

 A 31-year-old Karuizawa single malt, matured in a single sherry cask for more than three decades before being bottled by Elixir Distillers exclusively for The Whisky Exchange's Karuizawa Geishas series. The bottle features a label designed by our creative director Raj Chavda, paying homage to the exquisite, inaccessible beauty of the meiko on her way to become geisha. 

Tasting Notes
Billy Abbott, The Whisky Exchange

Nose

Thick chocolate sauce and leather, with seaweedy umami, rich riverbank loam and singed raisins. Sweeter and lighter notes of minty dark chocolate and glacé cherries develop in the glass along with hints of menthol and blackcurrant. Mint fondant wrapped in chocolate builds before fading slowly to reveal old damp oak boards, polished oak tables and rich forest-floor earthiness.
Palate

A burst of dark brown sugar sweetness is balanced by deep earth and oak savouriness before mint and menthol burst through the middle. Bittersweet chocolate and dried cherries sit alongside cigar-box cedar and damp tree bark. Intense dried-fruit notes build: rich dates and prunes with sweet raisins and sultanas. Lighter fruit emerges, with dried pineapple and baked apples heavily dusted with cinnamon and brown sugar.
Finish

Aromatic incense, cedar and polished oak provide a base for cherries, mixed berries, mint chocolate chips and chocolate-covered Seville oranges. The fruit fades away to leave bittersweet molasses and fragrant bark.