Starward Named World’s Best Distiller At The San Francisco World Spirit Competition

If you are a whisky lover, plan your next vacation to Australia, not Scotland or Japan. That’s because Starward, a whisky-focused distillery out of Melbourne, Australia, has received the Most Awarded International Distillery Award from the San Francisco World Spirit Competition (SFWSC) for the second time in three years. Yes, you read that correctly. Unlike the breaker Raygun, this Australian brought home the gold again and again and again.

Their medal haul for the event was impressive. They took home one bronze, two silver, 13 gold, and an impressive 13 double gold medals, with two ending up on the Best in Class shortlist. That’s 29 medals for those at home counting. Even more remarkable is that they did it all in the whisky category. That’s a boatload of fine sipping.

Founded in 2010 in a maintenance hangar at the Essendon Airport in Melbourne, Starward has, from day one, challenged the conventional distillation and aging norms that have defined the whisky industry for centuries. That is due to founder David Vitale’s background as a homebrewer and his desire to make more fruit-flavor-forward whiskies that are highly drinkable. It’s worked, seeing as Starward has been bringing home major awards almost from the moment they released their first bottlings in 2013.

“I initially thought Starward would be a craft brewery, but I quickly realized that trying to ship beer around Australia and the rest of the world would be impossible. Then I went to a distillery in Tasmania, and I knew what I wanted to do,” says Vitale. “Being a homebrewer, I loved the different flavors in my beers, but I knew that to be successful, I would need to make whiskies that everyone could enjoy. I like a big, bold IPA, but I only want one, then I need something more sessionable. That’s how I feel about our whiskies. I want to make whisky with delicious flavors that leave you wanting more.”

Starward’s location also contributes to its success. Adjoining the lush Yarra Valley wine region, which has produced stunningly bold reds for decades, the distillery only uses ingredients sourced within a day’s drive of its facility. That means a traditional double-pot system distills lots of wheat and single malts. What really sets their whiskeys apart is their barreling.

Unlike most whisky distillers that focus on heavily charred barrels to age their liquid in, Starward embraces using “very wet” barrels from the numerous wineries nearby. Most wine barrels are uncharred but feature medium to heavy toast on the inside. Starward takes emptied wine casks and pours their young whisky into them within one to two days of their release from vintners. Ensuring these barrels haven’t had the residual wine evaporate out ensures that their whisky is immediately immersed into a much different environment than most other whiskies encounter.

“When I founded Starward, I wanted to show that you can make great whisky anywhere in the world, especially if you are willing to push the boundaries. That’s something we Australians do quite well; innovation is baked into our psyche from a young age. Being out on the world’s edge, you must adapt to survive sometimes,” says Vitale. “I liken our distillery to a band all working together to make something great. We could have copied what others have done and made a nice liquid, but that would have been like being a Rolling Stones cover band. Not interested in that. I love the Stones but want to make my own music/whisky. That’s what we are doing.”

All their whiskies are aged for at least three years; that is often all they need due to Melbourne’s unique weather patterns. Due to the extreme weather shifts that can occur, often in one day, the liquid is constantly moving in the barrel. The distillery calls this out on its labels by stating the age in “Melbourne Years.”

The resulting liquid can vary in taste from barrel to barrel due to the different interactions between the various wines that had previously occupied the barrels and the whisky. According to Vitale, they always feel like they are opening a present every time they taste since they don’t know what they may find. They can create highly favorable blends and unforgettable single-barrel releases using the vast array of liquids available.

Starward has steadily been expanding its global distribution footprint and is currently available online to most of the United States. It can also be found in fourteen states in retail and on the back bar. The distillery plans to steadily expand its footprint across the United States, which is good considering how many medals it just took home. While many of the expressions they took home hardware for are one-offs, you can pick up their signature Tow-Fold, Nova, and Solera whiskies, plus several other limited edition bottles, on their website.

Here are their medal winners.

Double Gold

· 100 Proof Australian Whisky

· Nova Australian Whisky

· Left-Field Australian Whisky

· Yering Station x Pinot Noir Cask Australian Whisky

· Hungarian Oak Australian Whisky

· Vitalis Australian Whisky

· Sticky Toffee Apple Australian Whisky

· Octave Barrels Australian Whisky

· Stout Cask Australian Whisky (Best In Class Finalist)

· Single Barrel #684 Australian Whisky

· Tawny #2 Australian Whisky

· Single Barrel #8193 Australian Whisky

· Single Barrel #3278 Australian Whisky (Best in Class Finalist)

Gold

· Solera

· TWC PX Cask Australian Whisky

· Two-Fold Australian Whisky 45 Proof

· Two-Fold Australian Whisky 40 Proof

· Chardonnay Cask Australian Whisky

· Munich Malt Australian Whisky

· HER Honeycomb Australian Whisky

· Muscat Australian Whisky

· Ginger Beer Cask #7 Australian Whisky

· Single Barrel #344 Australian Whisky

· The Corio Distillery Casks Australian Whisky

· TWC Cognac Cask Australian Whisky

· Peated Finish Australian Whisky

Silver

· Cask Strength Single Malt Australian Whisky Finished in ex-Lagavulin Barrel

· Single Malt Australian Whisky Finished in ex-Lagavulin Barrel

Bronze

· Single Barrel #7598 Australian Whisky