DrRHCMadden
Starward Fortis
Single Malt — South Australia, Australia
Reviewed
September 29, 2022 (edited December 23, 2022)
Dan Murphy’s Australian Whisky tasting. Another blind pour of a well received offering. Starward recently cleaned up at the San Francisco spirits competition, eight double golds and most awarded distillery of the year. As of yet though, I haven’t been wowed by what I’ve tried. They’ve been good, but nothing to write home about yet.
N: artificial strawberry (think strawberry sweets), winey, milk chocolate (I think, caramel, and a slight ethanol presence.
P: jams, slight oaky tannin, sugary dried fruit sweetness, buttery toffee. Surprisingly gentle at 50%.
F: long finish. Really long. vanilla lingers and lingers, toasty and slight berry.
Fairly non distinctive and blends into the masses of sherried speysides, which are better, more nuanced and generally cheaper. Although inoffensive and well made it is sadly another ultimately forgettable whisky. But, to be fair to it; also completely enjoyable whilst in the moment. Final verdict, just another OK Starward. I’m a little let down I think. I wanted it to impress me, especially after the SFSC 8 double gold hype.
Distiller whisky taste #71
139.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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@DrRHCMadden and that is why @cascode is our resident Oracle. Thanks!
@PBMichiganWolverine haha the oracle explained it to you here!
@cascode fascinating. Thanks Sir.
Nailed it fair and square. Inoffensive but ultimately forgettable like most Starward whiskies I have tried. @PBMichiganWolverine A few years ago David Vitale of New World Distillers (which is Starward) pulled off something of a coup by negotiating a funding deal with Distill Ventures, an investment company owned by Diegeo. The exact figure is not known but it was enough to allow the distillery to massively expand production and make enough juice to ensure export supply. Our excise tariffs are crippling, yes, but the biggest issue for our local industry is that most distilleries here are very small artisan operations, and it is impossible for them to scale up production without a huge capital injection. Diageo wanted a slice of the emerging Australian whisky industry and the deal give them that by proxy. They now have the international distribution rights for Starward, which has allowed the distillery to appear in overseas markets that would otherwise be inaccessible. Bear in mind that even though Starward is one of the biggest Australian whisky distilleries (by a huge margin) their output is less than that of Kilchoman.
@PBMichiganWolverine I don’t know how they do it, I guess there is something in the scale of their operation. It’s a shame that Australian whisky is so expensive, I think it hinders their accessibility and in doing so opportunity for growth and development of the industry here.
Starward seems to be only affordable Aussie brand here in the states. Strange why that’s the case…would’ve thought tariffs hit everyone equally