Karuizawa 16, 1995-2012, Shinanoya Private Cask 5th Anniversary, Japanese Wine Cask No. 5006, 180 bottles, 69.3% abv.

This is the sister label to Karuizawa 31 year cask 4961. The labels depict screen door painting "Lion and Tiger" by 18th century Japanese painter Soga Shōhaku. The original is supposedly held at the Chiba City Museum of Art. This piece is supposedly meant to be humorous, showing a tiger scared of the wind. Cask 4961 shows a lion scared of a butterfly. Shinanoya and Karuizawa seem to release bottles in pairs nowadays (i.e. Japanese artworks, geishas). Gotta give it to Shinanoya, very good attention to detail that requires some cultural immersion to understand.

Nose: soy sauce bottles, light toast and vanilla (which I just realized might be the same to me), fried taco shells, green onions, chinese wine, could sense potential abv burn. After some time, I sense cooked green bell peppers, black pepper seriously like fajita style, not sure if I'm just hungry or I'm actually sensing this... Bar Kitchen usually messes with my nose.

Palate: intense, good body, smooth, some sort of sour french wine, bread, plum wine, mellowed old dried fruits, a variety of hot spices, sans black pepper and chili peppers in general. Overall a citrus type.

Finish: long, general sweetness, abv burn, hints of toast and wood, transforms to a watered down version of old steamed lotus leaves which diminishes with each sip.

Man the abv burn on this was formidible, the nose was quite nice with a variety of hearty elements that seemed to construct a nice dinner! The taste is a little unique, but along the lines of other asian wine cask finished whiskies, that plum wine, cooking wine flavor profile. It's flavorful and hits all aspects of a good tasting experience.

Grade: B

Couldn't find quantifiable, reliable reviews.

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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