Karuizawa

A legendary Japanese distillery, its whiskies are the super stars in the auction houses. It was established in 1955 at a vineyard of Karuizawa and named thereof. Karuizawa somehow looks like an Artisan whisky maker. It used small pot stills, Golden Promise barley and fine Sherry casks. The outcome is high production cost but low yield. All these elements are successful factors to make a premium whisky nowadays but not at that time. The market was dominated by inexpensive blended whiskies and not ready to accept such a premium Japanese malt whisky. Karuizawa was stopped production in 2000 and completed closed in 2011.