Karuizawa 19 yo (1988/2007) Refill Butt

Review by Nonjatta contributor - Serge Valentin

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"Karuizawa 19 yo 1988/2007 (58.3%, The Whisky Fair, refill sherry, 180 bottles.)
Colour: Straw.
Nose: Punchy but much less marked by the cask than the sherry wood 19 yo. Much fruitier as well (tinned pineapples), with notes of ginger and spearmint as well as a little lemon juice. Whiffs of linseed oil and cut cider apples. Starts to ‘sauvignonise’ after a moment. Excellent zing. With water: not much change here, we are still on dry white wine, lemons and pineapples.
Mouth (neat): Punchy but sweet and fruity again. Pear and lemon drops, pineapple jell-O, strawberries, vanilla fudge, a little ginger again, bergamots, chamomile tea, hints of mocha... With water: gets more complex, with quite some grapefruit, ginger, cinchona, vanilla fudge, lemon pie... And then even more ginger. Quite amazing how gingery this one is.
Finish: Long, candied, lemony and gingery. Very good again, even if it hasn’t really got its sibling’s pretty immense stature. SGP:553 – 87 points."
(Serge`s 100 point scoring system is explained on this page and the more precise SGP is explained here)