The final leg of the Whisky Exchange’s Anniversary bottlings. This Karuizawa was distilled in 1982 and bottled 26 years later. It was released in a period in which many great Karuizawa saw the light, think of the Noh series, or the “Wait la Mazurka“.

The bottle itself makes up for some of the money, and apart from that, it wasn’t too expensive compared to some of the others.

Nose:
Quiet some wood, but not too much. Sweet coffee and a hint of cocoa. Fresh herbs and tropical fruit with some pine wood.

Taste:
Quite some alcohol burn at first with a very thick and viscous mouth feel. Quite spicy but also a lot of sweet peach. There are some of those ‘typical whisky flavours’ as well, quite waxy, wood, leather. That kind of stuff.

Finish:
The finish is very soft and gentle. Very long with some cocoa again. Light fruits and less heavy than you’d expect.

This is a very nice dram. Quite different than the Hakushu. Judging by the colour you’d expect a heavy tropical fruit bomb, but it tastes a lot lighter than that. All flavours are there with some nice crisp touches to it. Tremendous stuff!

Karuizawa 1982, 26yo, 56.1%, The Whisky Exchange. Used to cost around 150, but Karuizawa’s prices have been known to go up like a space shuttle.

Nose: 9
Taste: 9
Finish: 9
Overal experience: 10
Price/quality: +1

Total: 38 points