Karuizawa 1983 Speciality Drinks Single Cask #3557 / Nepal Bottling - One of 50

Karuizawa distillery was established in 1955 in the town of Miyota on the southern slopes of Mount Asama. It began production the following year, producing single malt for the Ocean blends from Daikoku Budoshu. Initially it was difficult for the distillery to obtain malt, but a lift on import restrictions in 1958 meant the distillery was able to experiment with the production of a Speyside-esque product, importing the same golden promise barely used at Macallan, and sherry casks. The subsequent quality of output saw it appearing in Japan as a single malt for the first time in the 1980s. Sadly, the Japanese whisky market was not strong at the time, and Karuizawa was closed in 2001 by owners, Mercian, and eventually dismantled. Its legacy is lives on however, with its still relocated to other distilleries in Japan, but predominantly in the hugely sought-after single cask releases that began to appear in 2007, from independent bottler, Number One Drinks. It is now one of the most prestige single malts on the planet, the reverence for which only grows as the remaining stock continues to thin.

This incredibly rare bottling by Speciality Drinks was originally produced to raise funds for the Nepal Earthquake Appeal. It was sold at the Karuizawa Master Class which took place at the Whisky Exchange Whisky Show on 3rd October 2015.

Speciality Drinks was established in 1999 as the independent bottling arm of The Whisky Exchange, which launched its online retail site the same year. Their first bottlings were under the Single Malts of Scotland label in 2005, followed by the Elements of Islay range and Port Askaig single malt brand in 2006 and 2009, respectively. The company was renamed Elixir Distillers in 2017.

The whisky itself was distilled in 1983 and matured in single sherry cask #3557. It was bottled at cask strength in 2014.

Bottle number 13 of only 50 produced.