Last Whisky from a Legendary Japanese distillery Goes Under the Hammer

March is shaping up to be a month to remember for fans of legendary whisky and whisky investors alike. That’s when Christie’s will auction two complete Karuizawa casks, drawn from the distillery’s very last year of production. The proceeds are expected to run into the hundreds of thousands.

For years, casks from the old Karuizawa distillery were out of reach for collectors and investors. After the Japanese distillery closed in 2000, only a limited stock of casks remained, purchased by Sukhinder Singh, owner of Elixir Distillers, who released them in very small batches.

The distillery has long since achieved legendary status, and the whisky right along with it. The whisky Singh holds is essentially liquid gold, and it’s about to go under the hammer.

Christie’s has announced a remarkable auction featuring two complete Karuizawa whisky casks. These casks come from Singh’s private collection and both date from the final year Karuizawa distilled spirit.

Christie’s notes that these are likely the last full Karuizawa casks ever to be made publicly available. The whisky has matured for at least 25 years, making it not only legendary but impressively old as well.

According to the auction house, the sale offers the buyer full creative control, decisions about further maturation, bottling date, outturn, and presentation. Those choices will shape not only the flavor profile but also the future positioning and value of the whisky.

The casks are currently stored at Tormore Distillery, owned by Elixir Distillers. The live auction (sale number 24677) takes place on March 10 at 14:00 GMT in London. While the expected hammer price hasn’t been disclosed, there is a hint: Karuizawa bottles already fetch tens of thousands of euros, let alone entire casks.