One of the most legendary Karuizawa ever bottled and certainly one of the collector’s favourites, is this Vintage Cask #6426 from 1967. Bottled in 2009 at 42 years old, the oldest Karuizawa ever at that time, the cask was split between La Maison Du Whisky (229 bottles) and The Whisky Exchange (195 bottles), for their 10th Anniversary. The bottles originally retailed at around €260, which was very expensive for a bottle of Japanese whisky at the time.

Those who opened their bottles immediately realised they had stumbled across one of the finest whiskies ever to come out of Japan and prices began to rapidly rise as news spread. The respected whisky reviewers agreed with Serge Valentin of Whiskyfun scoring the bottle a whopping 95 points, calling the whisky “A Japanese masterpiece”, with Ruben Luyten of Whisky Notes also scoring the whisky 95 points and commenting “Dark sherry maturation doesn’t get much better than this”.

The initial furore around these whiskies showed no signs of slowing down and as more and more bottles were opened and enjoyed, the prices rose also. Today they both sit firmly as two of the top three most highly rated Karuizawa bottlings on Whiskybase and command an almost mythical status amongst whisky enthusiasts and lovers of heavily-sherried malts.

KODAWARI: The Greatest Japanese Whisky Collection contains bottles of both the LMDW and TWE bottlings for both collectors and those who wish to taste this precious nectar.