Japan, Nagano. Distillery closed and dismantled.

Mothballed in the early 2000s, Karuizawa closed definitively in Spring 2012. Located at the foot of one of Japan's most active volcanoes, Mont Asama, Karuizawa began distilling in 1956. Equipped with small direct coal-fired stills, Karuizawa produced a robust, full-bodied malt that took perfectly to long maturation in ex-sherry casks from Spain (first fill) and Scotland (second fill, such as Mortlach). Karuizawa was a malt distilled to produce the Ocean blends of the Daikoku group. Bottlings of single malts were at the time reserved for the distillery's visitor centre and a handful of private clients. These hand-bottled versions were offered as cask strength, single cask vintages. Only what was needed for the bottling was removed from the cask, with the rest left to continue ageing in barrel. This practice explains why the same barrel can exist in various bottlings of different ages and versions. This means that the 1970 cask #6177 exists under two labels, one a 31 Year Old Distillery Edition (2002) and the other a 42 Year Old Vintage Single Cask Edition (2012). It was under the aegis of Number One Drinks, who bought the 300 or so barrels still available at the distillery in 2006, that Karuizawa joined the ranks of legend.

Donated by Elixir Distillers
Omoiyari is Japanese for attentive, considerate and compassionate. After the Covid-19 pandemic, Sukhinder Singh, co-founder of Elixir Distillers, decided to create an exceptional lot from his personal collection of old Karuizawa casks, acquired in 2011 when the last bottlings from the legendary Japanese distillery were released for sale. A limited edition of six bottles reserved exclusively for charity sales, Karuizawa Omoiyari is a unique blend of single malts distilled between 1963 and 1984, the majority of which are from 1972. By combining old malts from the distillery aged in sherry and bourbon casks, Sukhinder Singh has found a perfect balance between the intensity of sherry and the finesse of bourbon.

Elixir Distillers, Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh have been kind enough to offer us the second bottling in this exceptional lot for the Fine Spirits Auction x Whisky Live 2022 auction, whose profits will be donated in full to the GoodPlanet Foundation.