1981 Number One Drinks Company Karuizawa Sherry Butt 6256 Cask Strength Single Malt Japanese Whisky (700ml)

Karuizawa is held in quite different esteem to the Nikka and Suntory giants. Despite being the country's smallest whisky producer, they had ambitions to be one of Japan's best, taking an approach reminscent of Macallan when they were setting the bar for Scotch malt excellence in the 1980s.

Fifty years ago the site of Karuizawa was actually a vineyard before its owner Daikoku-budoshu converted it into a whisky distillery in 1962. At 850 metres above sea level it is the most elevated in Japan. It stands in the countryside, in the shadow of a dormant volcano named Mt. Asama, to the north west of Tokyo.

Karuizawa's preference for only using sherry casks (though not exclusively) helped build its reputation, and there have been a number of single cask bottlings in this sherry-led style. This matches their flavoursome spirit, made using only Golden Promise barley (as Macallan once did), all shipped from Simpson’s of Berwick. Since the mid-nineties Karuizawa was unpeated. It's ironic that the vision and persistence of its proprietors was commercially unsustainable during its operation. The distillery ceased production in 2000 and completely closed in 2011.

Enter the ''Number One Drinks Company'' - a kind of independent bottler founded in 2006 to import and distribute Japan's finest whiskies.They have secured the last casks of Karuizawa and are slowly drawing them off. How much Karuizawa is left? Number One have kept the exact number of casks a closely guarded secret. It could be anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand. What is known is that of the casks they own, only a relatively small number were distilled before 1980. The rest are from the 1980s and 1990s.

Not much information is available on this rare bottling except this from forum.whiskyforum.org. "A sensational Karuizawa from the famed 1981 vintage, this fantastic cask strength dram has been fully matured in a first fill sherry cask. Deep, rich and complex, with a wonderful mix of sweet and savoury aromas and flavours, this exceptional cask will further cement Karuizawa's reputation as Japan's finest distillery."