Karuizawa 13 year old Vintage

Review by Nonjatta contributor - Serge Valentin

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"Karuizawa 13 yo Vintage 1992 (59.5%, Official Bottling, cask #3432, 25cl)
Colour: Full amber.
Nose: Oh, this is very exuberant again, with the same kinds of notes that we found in the 31 Vintage. Excellent coal smoke, plum sauce, walnut stain, strawberry jam... Something milky in the background, though. The pros would say it’s a bit butyric. Quite some rubber as well, but we’ve learned that Karuizawa needs water anyway, so with water: definitely younger in style, fruitier, with less ‘secondary’ aromas. The wood is also less integrated, with more ginger, cloves, pepper and something slightly varnishy. Slightly butyric again but the whole is still enjoyable.
Mouth (neat): very dense, uberfruity and jammy, hot, almost brutal. With water: all on candy sugar and fruit jam but there’s also a better spiciness than in the 21 Vintage. A more active cask it seems. Interesting notes of Japanese green tea, but that may well be my mind playing tricks to me.
Finish: long, more liquoricy and candied now, very compact, with quite some kumquat. Just a tad drying at the aftertaste. 85 points."(Serge`s scoring system is explained on this page.)

Alcohol
59.5 per cent (abv)
Price
The picture above is of a small 250 ml bottle. This one is also available in a 700ml for which you may have to pay between 6,000 and 10,000 yen. This shop sells this range.