Nose: Not dissimilar to cask 8497 as can be imagined. Banana, grapefruit, orange, oak, pencil shavings, wood stain, shoe polish.
Palate: Fairly brutal and one dimensional without water. Burnt rubber, burnt banana, orange, caramel. With water you get a little sweet spice, treacle and bitter nuts.
Finish: Not much to it. A little sweet, a little dry, a little bitter and burnt rubber.
Last Word: Not too flash.
Rating: 73/100
Another disappointing bourbon cask ‘zawa. I had high hopes for this one and was considering getting another. I’m getting the impression that as stocks dwindle, so is the quality and Karuizawa is even less of a ‘smart’ buy with regards to drinking pleasure. Three Yama’ Sherry or one Karuizawa?
Nothing much changes from in ‘investment’ standpoint Pete as the speculators don’t care about opening them anyway, much less care about the taste. Even these bourbon casks will go up in price eventually. As you would know from the fact this one is still available retail at TWE, no where near as fast as sherry cask matured Karuizawa.
3 bottles of Yama sherry, you could drink 2 and eventually sell the third and that would cover your costs as these do very well also.