More about Karuizawa Distillery
Status Fechada e demolida
Established: 1956
Owner: Kirin Holdings Company Limited
Capacity: No longer operational
Visitor Policy: Pouca acessibilidade
Tel: No longer operational
Website: No longer operational
Established: 1956
Owner: Kirin Holdings Company Limited
Capacity: No longer operational
Visitor Policy: Pouca acessibilidade
Tel: No longer operational
Website: No longer operational
Sadly the Karuizawa distillery closed at the end of 2011 after more than a decade of inactivity. Pronounced ‘karo-zau-wa’ and named after and sited close to the town of Karuizawa high in the Japanese Alps, the distillery sat on the southern slopes of Mount Asama. This active volcano last erupted in early February 2009 and the malt it produced also has something of a reputation for being powerful.
Address
1795-2 Oaza Maseguchi
Miyotamachi
Kitasakugun
389-0207
Nagano Prefecture
Japan
Miyotamachi
Kitasakugun
389-0207
Nagano Prefecture
Japan
Karuizawa was already mothballed when Mercian was taken over by Kirin in 2007 and its fate sealed. Now dismantled, the once ivy covered buildings housed four stills. The distillery shipped its Golden Promise malted barley from Simpson’s of Berwick in England and a large proportion of the whisky produced was matured in European oak ex-sherry casks.
Thankfully, in 2011, the Number One Drinks Company, owned and run by David Croll of Japanese Whisky Magazine fame and the whisky PR, Marcin Miller, bought the last few hundred casks of Karuizawa from Kirin and have since been slowly releasing these as both single cask bottlings and blends.
