Karuizawa 40 Year Old 1982 — Platinum Geisha | Single Sherry Cask #1650 | 56.5% ABV | Closed Japanese Distillery | 70cl

The Karuizawa Geisha series has become the most iconic and sought-after label in the history of Japanese whisky — each bottle a single cask drawn from the closed mountain distillery, presented with a classic ukiyo-e woodblock print of a Japanese geisha. The Platinum Geisha represents the apex of that series: a 40-year-old expression from the 1982 vintage, drawn from a single sherry cask (#1650) at natural cask strength of 56.5% ABV. Karuizawa has been closed since 2000 and demolished since 2011. A 1982 vintage sherry cask expression aged for four full decades is among the oldest and rarest Karuizawa ever released.

Key Details

• Distillery: Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan — closed 2000, demolished 2011
• Expression: 40 Year Old — Platinum Geisha Series
• Vintage: Distilled 1982
• Age: 40 Years Old
• Style: Japanese Single Malt Whisky
• Cask: Single sherry cask — Cask #1650
• Bottling strength: 56.5% ABV — Cask Strength
• Bottle size: 70cl
• Colouring / filtration: Natural colour, Non-Chill-Filtered
• Condition: Perfect, with original packaging

Tasting Notes

Nose: The profound depth of four decades in sherry wood opens slowly — dense dried fruit, dark muscovado sugar, polished furniture and aged leather. Oriental spices, sandalwood and a fragrant, almost ceremonial quality that is uniquely Karuizawa. Green tea and dried apricot emerge with time in the glass.

Palate: An extraordinary balance of fruit, spice and elegant old oak — rich, oily and mouth-coating. The 40 years in sherry wood have produced an extraordinary concentration of dark dried fruit alongside bitter chocolate, warm spice and a Karuizawa waxiness that no other distillery has ever produced.

Finish: One of the longest and most meditative finishes in whisky. The sherry cask sweetness and spice linger for minutes, fading in layers. Utterly unhurried.

Why This Bottle Is Worth Bidding On

• A 40-year-old single sherry cask from a demolished Japanese distillery is among the rarest categories in the entire world of spirits — this is not a bottle you can compare to anything on current release
• The Platinum Geisha is the highest tier of the Geisha series, reserved for the oldest and most extraordinary casks; sherry cask Karuizawa at 40 years and cask strength is the full expression of everything that made this distillery legendary
• Karuizawa auction records have grown consistently for over a decade; aged, single cask, sherry-matured expressions from the 1980s vintage regularly command the highest prices in Japanese whisky, and supply is permanently fixed and diminishing