K ODAWARI | The Greatest Japanese Whisky Collection is the most valuable collection of Japanese whisky ever offered at auction. This year, 2023, marks the centenary of Japanese whisky – a spirit that 100 years ago was forged in the footprint of Scotch whisky, but nowadays very much has a unique standing in the whisky collecting world.
The sale has been made possible by one collector’s foresight for the potential of Japanese whisky and includes over 150 bottles from the famed Karuizawa Distillery, which ceased production in 2000. Also offered are rare whiskies from The Yamazaki, Hakushu, Yoichi and Hanyu distilleries.
In the early 2010s, when this collector (who will remain anonymous) began collecting Karuizawa in earnest, the idea of spending as much as £200 on a bottle of Japanese Whisky would have seemed preposterous to most. But his passion for obtaining the finest and rarest whiskies on the planet overwhelmed any sense of trepidation and so this collection was built.
When he began collecting in early 2000, interest in the category outside of Asia was fairly non-existent, particularly given the exceptional quality of much of the malt whisky being produced in Japan. Gradually, through ferocious hunting and swapping with enthusiasts all over the world, the collection grew to what it has become today, an all ecompassing list of the most legendary Japanese whiskies ever bottled.
"Nowadays these rare bottles are extremely difficult to find, but when I started collecting, nobody really knew much about Japanese Whisky"
Not only did this collector manage to obtain some of the rarest whiskies ever produced, he is also in the unique position of having tasted almost every single one, regardless of their price tag, including the legendary Karuizawa 52 Year Old Cask #5627 1960, the oldset Karuizawa ever bottled.
"The 1960 is the most memorable whisky that I’ve tried, especially understanding its rarity and significance"
A keen collector of Cuban cigars and Swiss watches, he felt that 2023 was the right time to sell as we celebrate the landmark 100 Year Anniversary of Japanese Whisky production.
"I think at my age I probably won't be able to drink all of them within my lifetime and sometimes these rare bottles are meant to be shared with other collectors and drinkers. I want them to be enjoyed rather than keeping them in a dark cellar"
Karuizawa Distillery was founded in the 1950s and mainly produced malt whisky for use in blends, most of which was aged in sherry casks. The quality of the whisky was considered to be excellent, but as the whisky industry declined in the 1980s and 90s so did Karuizawa, which ultimately led to its demise. What makes this distillery’s whiskies so valuable is the fact that Karuizawa doesn’t exist anymore – it closed its doors in 2000 and was demolished 16 years later.
Over the past decade or so, however, collectors have discovered once again just how special Karuizawa whisky is. According to author and whisky expert Dave Broom, the fact that Karuizawa is a “ghost distillery” has a lot to do with the value of the whisky. “Karuizawa is the Japanese equivalent of Brora or Port Ellen,” he says, referring to two shuttered distilleries in Scotland. He says that the fact that there are only so many casks left of Karuizawa whisky left in the world is appealing to both collectors and investors. “The former bought into the Karuizawa story because the single casks were of good (and sometimes great) quality, and offered a different perspective to their understanding of Japanese whisky which, let's not forget, had only started to appear on the market in any volume from 2000.”
The KODAWARI Collection includes in excess of 150 bottles of Karuizawa dating back to 1960, the earliest known vintage bottled.
Headlining the collection is a bottle of Karuizawa 52 Year Old Cask #5627 1960. This iconic bottle represents more than just an incredible whisky from a now closed distillery, it is the oldest Karuizawa to have been released and one of only 41 bottles. Originally released in 2013, this Karuizawa embodies the beautiful Japanese craftsmanship for which the distillery’s releases are known. The wooden case is carved from Wenge in the style of a Japanese puzzle box and the calligraphy on Norito Hasegawa’s artisan paper labels was hand painted in Japan.
Of the 41 bottles that were produced, each is uniquely identified not by a bottle number, but by an individual character or katabori netsuke (形彫根付) that was carved from the oak cask head of cask #5627. This particular bottle is named ‘Daikoku God’. The dark whisky within this exquisite bottle stands at 52 years old and, at the time of its release, the oldest Japanese Whisky ever bottled. Its strength after such a long cask maturation is still an impressive 51.8% and the sherry influence is clear from the rich, dark hue of the liquid inside.
Also available are a trio of Karuizawa distilled in 1965 and bottled for the 60th Anniversary of Parisian whisky shop, La Maison du Whisky. The retailer is the distributor of Number One Drinks in France and have released many of their own exclusive bottlings from this long-closed Japanese distillery. The pinnacle of the LMDW Karuizawa releases is undoubtedly this collection of three 1965 vintage bottlings. Each of these three 1965 Karuizawa bottles is different: The first was aged in a single Sherry cask, the second in a single Bourbon barrel, while the third, the Karuizawa “Japonisme”, is a vatting of the Bourbon and Sherry casks together. Each was aged for a minimum of 50 years before bottling. Not only is the liquid exceedingly scarce, but the packaging equally as exquisite.
One of the most legendary Karuizawa ever bottled and certainly one of the collector’s favourites, is this the 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.
Scoring 95 Points from both Whisky Fun and WhiskyNotes.be, 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 contains bottles of both the LMdW and TWE bottlings for both collectors and those who wish to taste this precious nectar.
"At the top of my list is the 1967 Vintage Cask #6426, which is shared between La Maison Du Whisky and The Whisky Exchange. I think this is my favourite whisky of all time"
Highlights also come from both the Noh and Geisha series of whiskies, two of the most iconic selections of Karuizawa ever bottled.
Karuizawa Noh 41 Year Old Cask #1842 1971 is the oldest vintage among all of the Noh bottlings. As one of only 82 bottles it has the smallest outturn of the entire series and is considered the most collectable. Exclusively bottled for Prineus GmbH, a German importer & wholesaler of fine spirits, the whisky was matured in a Bourbon barrel before bottling at an impressive 63.7% abv in 2013. The KODAWARI collector has opened and enjoyed no less than two of these incredible bottles and it is amongst his favourites.
There have been various iterations of Karuizawa bottled with Geisha labels, with a number of whiskies bottled for the Taiwanese market, as well as exclusively for The Whisky Exchange firstly as individual bottles and then in pairs. KODAWARI: The Greatest Japanese Whisky Collection comprises over 20 bottles featuring Geisha labels. Karuizawa Geisha Cask #6227 was distilled in 1970, the oldest vintage from this series, and bottled in 2012 at circa 42 years of age for the Taiwanese market. 433 bottles were drawn from this single sherry butt.
The collection also features a number of other single cask bottlings dating back to 1968 including Karuizawa Sakura Single Cask #158 1981, bottled in 2012 for the German market and one of only 45 bottles, alongside Karuizawa Single Cask #7955. Also distilled in 1981, this is among the rarest and most unknown in the whole collection. Selected by Dave Broom and released for Bond #1 (a pay-to-join members club operated by Whisky Magazine Japan) members in 2012, only 30 were ever bottled, each with a very simple label featuring hand-written details.
Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Suntory whiskies are among the most popular and well-known of all Japanese whiskies.
The Yamazaki and Hakushu Distilleries as well as the Hibiki brand of blended whisky are all featured in KODAWARI. Highlights come in the form of a bottle of Yamazaki 25 Year Old Suntory Pure Malt bottled in 2002. A precursor to the current 25 Year Old, the Pure Malts (which changed to Single Malts in 2004) were bottled in much smaller quantities, with this being one of only 600 bottles. Also featured are numerous single casks of Yamazaki and Hakushu, mainly distilled in Sherry Butts and released in limited quantities into the Asian market. Many of these bottles are very seldom seen on the secondary market
As with Karuizawa, Hanyu is another lost distillery, having also closed in 2000. Built in 1941 by Isouji Akuto, his nephew was able to procure the remaining casks from the distillery upon its closure, releasing many single cask bottlings over the coming years. The Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt Card Series is one of the most collectible and widely recognised series of whiskies ever released. Based on a pack of playing cards, each label features a different card, and the whiskies were hand chosen by Ichiro Akuto, Grandson of Isouji Akuto.
KODAWARI includes almost 30 bottles of Hanyu, with half of those being part of the Card Series, including the very rare Jack of Hearts Cask #378 56.1 abv 199.
