The Starward distillery is a popular Melbourne based distillery, operating since 2007. They take pride in mostly maturing their whisky in Australian ex-wine casks (be it wine, or the Australian equivalent of Sherry – Apera). Melbourne weather is quite special as it change rapidly and sometimes in the same day the weather goes from hot to cold, and this speeds up maturation according to Starward.
this whisky is a seven-year-old single malt from Starward distillery, bottled exclusively for The Whisky Exchange’s 20th anniversary. Made in 2012, this whisky was matured in a single refill Apera cask – an Australian fortified wine, similar to Spanish sherry – before being bottled in 2019.
Starward 7 yo 2012, 59% Apera cask, £99.95
Nose: a sweet entry (which is no surprise given the Apera casks), with toffee, some fruit (Apples, apricot, and some pineapple juice as well) , Vanilla ice cream with a twist of lemon zest, some fragrant charred oak as well, quite luscious and sweet – a very desert like nose.
Palate: Sweet and chewy with lots of vanilla custard, fried bananas with cinnamon and a touch of Rum, Toffee and apple peel. more of the vanilla ice cream, with a touch of pepper, chilly and spice sprinkled on milk chocolate and more baked apples in thick syrup.
Finish : Fried banana in syrup, polished oak, and cask char.
Conclusion: This has to be the best Starward whisky I’ve had (I’ve tried a couple not many, i must admit). It’s very sweet, and is a classic desert dram. The Apera (Aussie Sherry) does add a nice sweet touch without being too tanny, which is nice. Not sure about the price ( £99.95 ) but Australian whisky is not cheap these days. Very interesting stuff, keep and eye on Starward, they are here to stay!
Score: 85/100
Available Exclusively from TWE shop