Ten years ago, Starward Founder, David Vitale had a vision to offer the world a modern Australian whisky free from tradition, inspired by the best distillation and maturation techniques from around the world. A decade later, Starward is producing 10 times as much liquid as in their first year, with their sales doubling in the last 12 months.
Since the early years in an old airport hangar, the distillery has since expanded and moved to a new home in Port Melbourne, just 10 minutes from Melbourne CBD.
To celebrate the first decade, Starward has released Starward Tenth Anniversary Bottling, a marriage of eight barrel types used across the company’s history. At an intimate tasting held at Burrow Bar, Founder David Vitale described it as “an anthology of barrels”, crafted to showcase liquid from all different Australian wine barrels, the oldest being 4.5 years and the youngest just over 2 years, making the whisky’s age somewhere between a 2 and a 3 year old.
This whisky celebrates the core principle of STARWARD. To reach for the stars. In June 2007, I took that first bold step towards a vision where we could all share an approachable, affordable and distinctly Australian whisky. While we still have a long way to go, this bottle is proof that confidence and belief in a vision worth pursuing is the most important part of any shared journey. Thanks for believing – David Vitale.
At 52% ABV, the whisky is very smooth yet big and bold, a little on the sweet side with a complex dried fruit character that makes for fine sipping.
With only 28 barrels available, it’s a limited release and in keeping with Starward’s ethos of celebrating whisky and sharing it, the tenth anniversary release has only been made available in twin packs, one to keep and one to drink.
Starward Tenth Anniversary Bottling is priced the same as the standard Starward expression at $190.00 for the twin pack and can be ordered from the website here.
