Karuizawa 28 Years Old Cask:3692 Bottled For Number One Drinks Company 61.6% 1984

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Serge Valentin (89)

Colour: dark red amber. Nose: a gun that just fired, reminds me of my days in the army (conscription). So yeah, a lot of gunpowder and struck matches, and even truffles at first nosing, but no hard boiled eggs, asparagus or cooked cabbage in there. So no mercaptan/thiols, luckily. What’s more, as often those notes tend to go away, leaving room for quite some chocolate and raspberry jelly. Now, it’s very strong, so… With water: goes toward dried porcinis, cigars, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and, maybe, even old Parmesan cheese. Also bags and bags of roast chestnuts – I don’t think I ever got that that loudly. All that is quite lovely. Mouth (neat): rich and powerful, it’s more some kind of ultra-heavy jam at this point. Prunes, Armagnac, black pipe tobacco and a tarry/smoky side that may come from the high strength. Let’s see… With water: this time it became a little gamy and very dry, with this gunpowder that came back. Bitter chocolate, some ginger, heavy herbal liqueur (starting with a J., dear) or even this weird thing called Schinken häger. Ever tried that? Finish: long, dry, very chocolaty. Quite some white pepper. Smokier and ashier aftertaste. Comments: I think you have to like gunpowder to enjoy this baby, which doesn’t necessarily mean you need be a belligerent person (S., you’re tired). Not utterly stellar in my opinion but quality’s very high, no doubt.