Any Japanese whisky lovers out there

Maybe check with @numen, who has written 20 of the 37 Karuizawa reviews on Connosr.

Can't help with the Karuizawas, those are really rare stuff.

I'm not Japanese, but I do love whisky.

I can't personally tell you anything about your bottle, but these links might be useful or at least interesting. First, hype and the Karuizawa story from the K&L retailers: spiritsjournal.klwines.com/klwinescom-spiri…

Second, the Karuizawa reviews from Serge at Whiskyfun: www.whiskyfun.com/Japanese-whisky.html

Yikes! I seem to have missed this. I'm no expert on the distillery, though I do love much of what I've had from them. If you mean the Karuizawa old bottle (rather than the profile photo), I saw this:

whiskybase.com/whisky/51527/…

In general, Karuizawa, more than almost any other distillery, exemplifies the flipping/collecting game. It wasn't fully appreciated while it was open, had a small output, produced some really gorgeous gems, and was difficult to get in much of the world. I recall seeing some of the Spirit of Asama bottles for sale online for about $100, while seeing the same releases going at auction for $300 at the same time. So, those bottles will be collectable. I don't know that prices will remain steady; I can see them dip before a generally steady increase.

Karuizawa is well known for their sherried releases, which are not for everybody, especially people sensitive to sulfur. For as legendary as some of their releases have been, notably those selected by The Whisky Exchange and La Maison du Whisky (not to mention the generally superb management by Number One Drinks -- I've had really amazing interaction with them when seeking a new cork to a bottle), some have been duds or uninspiring. Many of the single cask releases lately have been very good, and some of the NAS have been very good, but not exceptional. Nevertheless, there will always be a demand for bottles, especially hard to find bottles, from people looking to add to a Karuizawa collection or those just looking for an opportunity to try something from a legendary distillery that's gone forever.

Nonjatta is a wonderful site about Japanese whisky, and the authors have done a remarkable job writing about the distillery and its produce. I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

I can't add much to this other than to say I attended a Japanese tasting last year and the Karuizawa Spirit of Asama (55% version) was not only the best whisky I had that night, but my favourite dram of the year. I promptly bought a couple of bottles for a very reasonable price - I think £60 - compared to what all other Karuizawa bottlings seem to cost. I don't know if it was an anomaly or if this is considered inferior to the other releases, but for my money it was a bargain and credit to Number One Drinks for making a small proportion of this distillery's output accessible for those with relatively modest budgets.

It's an older bottling. Very collectable.

@dougwatts The Spirit of Asama came in two versions for The Whiskey Exchange: 48% and 55%. There was also an Asama at 46%. They're made of a vatting of 77 casks, if I recall, from 1999 and 2000, the last year the distillery was operating. It's about 11 years old. The single cask releases tend to go for bonkers prices, but they're also bringing the NAS and expressions like this up with them.

Here's a link to the TWE blog site about the Spirit of Asama. blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2012/11/…

I'm with you, @dougwatts, I really like the Asamas and wish that I'd gotten more than I did!

To revisit this topic, I'm wondering if anyone can help. I have a friend visiting japan in a week or so who has volunteered to pick me something up while there. I wonder if anyone knows the domestic Japanese whisky market well enough to recommend anything really good that might be available in the country but not elsewhere?

@dougwatts - yes! The Yoichi distillery only bottles are really lovely. Somebody sent me a few samples in trade, and I thought that they were really excellent. If there were an easier way to get them, I definitely would!

Thanks @numen - appreciate the tip about the Yoichi distillery only bottles. I'll add to the wish list. From a bit of research I believe that Nikka 17 YO Tsuru and Yoichi ‘Decades’ releases, ie 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, are pretty highly regarded, though the older variations will be outside of my price range.

Another more specific question, do you (or anyone) know whether buying from a shop in Japan or from duty free/travel retail at the airport would be preferable? I'd assume a specialist shop would have better range and prices, but I could be wrong.

There has been a huge increase in the price of japanese whiskies recently so I don't own any for the moment. But, I used to like the Yamazaki 18 back when it was affordable...