Once again, one of the very last vintages. I’ve heard this baby’s the first Karuizawa ever imported into the good old US of A. Colour: golden bronze. Nose: at first it’s like nosing Spanish cured ham. I’d swear you can even smell the bellotas (acorns), and I also get touches of rubber, as often in Karuizawa, although those tend to vanish after just one minute or even less. After one minute, it’s a bed of walnuts, candy sugar, pipe tobacco, Maggi and one of these pretty acidic coffees they have in Africa. Had a Burundian just yesterday that was smelling like this. Also a little cane sugar? A little gunpowder too, even after ten minutes. With water: the exhaust pipes of a Kawazaki H2. Ah, two-stroke engines! Behind that, a lot of liquorice. Mouth (neat): thick, a little acrid, takes your tongue hostage for a while. Very concentrated, with some black tea, walnut wine, salted liquorice, then more and more wood spices. Cinnamon mints? In the background, lively notes of raspberry drops. With water: was this aged in orange wood? Thuja? Pine? Mizunara? Eucalyptus? (that’ll do, S.) Finish: long, very focussed on chocolate, menthol and liquorice. After Eights. Comments: I’d describe this heavy dram as ‘perfectly imperfect’. Or very baroque. SGP:562 - 87 points.

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