The fifth instalment in the Karuizawa Geishas collection, bottled by Potion Distillers and unique to The Whisky Exchange, is comprised of two single-cask bottlings of this profoundly-rare and also popular spirit. Matured in sherry barrels for 31 and also 36 years specifically, these Sapphire Geishas showcase the abundant and also extravagant attributes for which Karuizawa’s outcome is so well known.
Established in 1955, Karuizawa, Japanese whisky royalty, would certainly have noted its 65th anniversary this year– its Sapphire Jubilee. Though it has actually been 20 years since the distillery’s closure, these Sapphire Geishas pay tribute to its continuing legend, in addition to its location in our hearts.
The Karuizawa 31 Year Old – Sapphire Geisha series was produced to bring the surprise appeal of the geisha to life. Often profoundly misinterpreted, typically written off as the product of a lost age, the creativity of the geisha– just like that of Karuizawa– is manifestly worth commemorating. The tags, made by our imaginative supervisor Raj Chavda, admire both the meiko’s unattainable elegance, and the skills and perseverance she should require on her path to ending up being a geisha.
” As part of the Karuizawa geisha’s journey” notes Chavda, “I was inspired by sapphire blue– an adored colour that is both associated with Japan’s seas and said to be beautified with magnificent power. I combined this with dragon describing behind-the-scenes to develop the impact of subtle but unmistakeable toughness, showing the knowledge and condition she has gotten.”
The Sapphire Geishas were distilled in the 1980s, grown in ex-sherry casks and also relocated into glass demijohns when we felt they had actually reached the optimal of excellence. Now, marking 65 years given that the distillery was initially established, they stand to take their location in our Karuizawa 31 Year Old – Sapphire Geisha collection.
NOSE
Thick chocolate sauce and natural leather, with seaweedy umami, rich shore loam and singed raisins. Sweeter and also lighter notes of minty dark chocolate as well as glacé cherries develop in the glass along with tips of menthol and also blackcurrant. Mint fondant wrapped in delicious chocolate develops before fading slowly to reveal old wet oak boards, polished oak tables as well as abundant forest-floor earthiness.
PALATE
A ruptured of dark brownish sugar sweet taste is stabilized by deep earth as well as oak savouriness prior to mint and menthol ruptured through the center. Bittersweet chocolate and dried out cherries sit together with cigar-box cedar and also damp tree bark. Intense dried-fruit notes develop: abundant dates and also prunes with wonderful raisins and also sultanas. Lighter fruit emerges, with dried pineapple as well as baked apples heavily dusted with cinnamon and brownish sugar.
FINISH
Fragrant incense, cedar as well as polished oak give a base for cherries, mixed berries, mint chocolate chips and also chocolate-covered Seville oranges. The fruit vanishes to leave bittersweet molasses and also aromatic bark.
