Karuizawa Asama, 1999/2000, 50.5% abv.

From what I understand, the Asama releases were made using 77 sherry butts (or European oak sherry casks?) from the final years of Karuizawa production, 1999/2000. This was bottled in 2013, making it at least 13 years old. On the back, it states that this release spent at least one year in marriage... but nonjatta states it was closer to "2 years". Marriage is when they vat the casks and then return them to their original casks for further maturation. This bottling is actually the second batch of Number One Drinks Asama releases so I would assume that extra year of marriage was just a continuation from the original operation. There are a few Asama/Spirit of Asama releases.

Nose: well bodied honey, some light toast. After some time its more herbal, toasted cereal. Nothing much.

Palate: sharp, a lot of wood, a lot of wet old steamed lotus leaves, honey, some red tea? herbal, earthy, pretty one dimensional. Quite bad.

Finish: medium, wet old steamed lotus leaves, honey, a finish similar to medicinal cognac. Coated honey mouthfeel.

Unfortunately, not a very good one in my humble opinion. Perhaps because my palatory senses are amateurish, I only got old wet steamed lotus leaves and honey, nothing much of anything else. Seems like several other online reviews also did not offer positive opinions. It's interesting because Karuizawa has a lot of stuff from 1999/2000. I just hope they don't offer a similar tasting experience. Definitely not revisiting. I'll be conservative on grading for this one as well.

Grade: F

Whiskyfun.com, Serge, sgp:662, 88 points for batch 2
thejapanesewhiskyreview, Brian, 80/100
whiskyanalysis, 8.63 ± 0.44 on 9 reviews for the initial Asama releases.

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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