15 July 2026

    • Karuizawa 5th Ghost

    4 Decades

    Winning Bid
    £15,025
    NO RESERVE

    Karuizawa 5th Ghost

    4 Decades
    Lot #0281164
    FINISH DATE
    31 March 2016

    Whisky from closed distilleries is often referred to as 'liquid history'. This release takes that metaphor a step further. It contains whisky from each decade of production at Karuizawa distillery, from the 60's right through to 2000. Inspired by the photographic technique 'time-stacking'. this is a distillery's history merged into a single dram. All proceeds from the original sale of this unique bottle - the 5th in a series of Japanese whiskies selected by Nonjatta featuring prints from Yoshitoshi's "New Forms of 36 Ghosts" - went to children's charities in Japan. We have never seen this bottle at auction and are truly excited to be able to present it to the highest bidder. This is an incredibly rare and hard to find. Limited to just 24 bottles at the time of release, we're not sure how many are still around. We believe this is one of the most limited bottlings of Karuizwa whisky in existence. Good Luck!

    Karuizawa

    The most collectable name in Japanese whisky, began life as a vineyard, beneath Mount Asama, which was an active volcano. Before the then owners, Daikoku-budoshu, decided to enter the world of whisky in 1955. A brave move given the domestic market was still relatively small and whisky was seen as being of Scottish origin. They looked to Scotland and created a modest-sized distillery that brought together the best of whisky. The emphasis was on quality, using the flavoursome Golden Promise barley that is rarely used today, stills that enhanced the distillate and then predominately sherry maturation, thanks to casks sourced from Spain. A lull in whisky demand prompted the distillery to be closed in 2000, if Japanese whisky was booming as it has been in recent times, Karuizawa would still be in existence. Instead, the remaining casks were purchased by Ichiro Akuto and over the years we’ve seen these hugely collectable releases arrive at retail and vanish soon after.

    Lot Features
    • DISTILLERY
      Karuizawa
    • TYPE
      Full Size
    • SIZE
      70 cl
    • STRENGTH
      61.8%
    • APPROX. SHIPPING WEIGHT (kg)
      2
    Region
    Japan
    Japan

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