Starward 10th Anniversary Bottling

I first came across the Australian Starward whisky a couple of years ago through a drample swap with Adam the @WhiskyPilgrim, I think he'd picked up a bottle from a trip to Australia. Since then I've tried a couple of their drams including the Solera which is matured in 40+ year old Apera casks -  an Australian take on Spanish sherry.

In 2017 the distillery celebrated its 10th anniversary and released a commemorative whisky the 10th Anniversary Bottling a 52% NAS release. This was a vatting of 28 barrels of 8 different types of Australian wine and fortified wine casks from across their 10 year history.

David Vitale founded the Starward distillery in 2007 in his home city of Melbourne, known for its brewing and surrounded by some of Australia’s leading wine regions an idea source of casks.

Originally the distillery was based at a former Qantas maintenance hangar at Essendon Fields Airport but has recently moved to Port Melbourne.

In 2015 Diageo invested in the distillery becoming a minority shareholder, this has enabled David and his team to ramp up production and open in new markets.

Locally grown brewer's barley is used distilled using a traditional double distillation process in copper pot stills and matured in locally sourced red wine barrels.

So on to the dram:

Distillery notes: A big, sweet whisky with burnt brown sugar and dried fruit nose. Complex dried figs, raisin and date on the palate, with oak spice and dryness to balance the whisky. A big finish which keeps on going.

My thoughts:

In the glass: lovely dark gold colour with a hint of red.

Nose: Dunnage warehouse, musty book shop notes, you would swear this has spend 20+ years in a sherry cask in a Speyside warehouse.  There's loads of strawberry jam, plums and some black cherries with dark chocolate - Black Forest gâteau?

Palate: Thick spicy arrival, the ABV makes itself known instantly - drying the mouth - loads of dark fruit - plums, figs, dates, sultanas - with a hint of citrus. The oak gives a spicy bitterness like 80% dark chocolate - Yummy!

Finish: Fairly short finish, more of the bitter chocolate and fruit with a slight honey note.

Overall: A lovely dram, as good as anything Speyside puts out but an awfully lot younger. The nose and mouthfeel puts it as 20+ years old, maybe slightly disappointing by the short finish but well worth trying if you can find a bottle.

Many thanks to Stuart @ThisIsMyDram for the drample swap!