Karuizawa 1988 18 Year Old (bot. 2007), The Whisky Fair

from a purchased sample

Nose; Rather malty and on traces of peat and more subtle hints of sherry. Lots of white wine. Lightly chalky chardonnay. The sherry is so faint that, as Ferris Buehler would say, if you blink, it'll probably pass you by. Vaguely red fruit (strawberries?) emerge with time. Ginger, salt, fresh oak, and vines in a forest. As the fruit emerges, the peat/smoke subsides. (with water) Water flattens this out a little, leaving it much more in the simply malty sweet and generic fruity, light Lowland stuff.

Palate: Bigger and more dynamic. Honey and sweet cereal and malt, giving way to the peatiness and inchoate sulfur notes (never rises to gunpowder, or even blast-caps). Oak comes out a bit flat and bitter at the mid-palate. It nearly goes sour. Flower, watermelon, underripe canteloupe, and a few red notes along with the vinuous white wines. (with water) Calms out the bitterness, and highlights more the cereal sweetness and white wine with ginger. Just a shadow of the other qualities.

Finish: Very much the continuation of the rest of it. At first, without the fruit, I was reminded of a watered down Port Ellen, and then it seemed more a hybrid of Imperial and Bladnoch. Very nice and pleasant enough, but nothing special or noteworthy.

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