Starward Distillery

Founded in Melbourne in 2007 by David Vitale, Starward began with a simple vision: to offer a distinctly Australian whisky to the world. From the grains to the red wine barrels, all ingredients are sourced from within a day’s drive of their Port Melbourne distillery. Melbourne’s notoriously variable climate allows the barrels to expand and contract at a fast rate, accelerating maturation and imparting all the rich character of the wood into the liquid. The distillery, staffed by a team of ex-brewers and winemakers, employs a brewing-spec Australian barley malt and brewer’s yeast to enhance flavour. After double pot still distillation, the whisky is aged in a variety of red wine casks – from shiraz and pinot noir to apera, made of American, French, or East European oak – in homage to Australia’s highly renowned wine industry, resulting in a product that Vitale proudly describes as “more Australian than Scotch is Scottish.”