I suspect those of you following along at home are sick to death of Starward reviews from me by now. Or perhaps not. Perhaps the greatness that is the new app isn’t showing them to you. Anyway, we are entering the home straight now and number 18 tonight is an exclusive release. Whisky Loot, or Liquor Loot as it is now known is a premium subscription tasting service. Pay a fee and each month you get 3 x 60 ml bottles of stuff to drink. Nice packaging, nice notes and guides, fairly typical range of spirits and whisky. That said they do have some exclusives and rarities from time to time. This is no exception. Whisky Loot went and selected their own barrel (barrel 2384 if you care to know) of Starward single malt matured in French oak red wine barrique cask from the Barossa Valley. The cask was wet filled and laid down in September 2016, and 240 bottles were sealed up in April 2021 at 58.3% and were sold at AUD$160-169. N: Soft and quite enticing. Tannic red wine is immediately apparent as is a dark cherry. Want to say there is toffee backing everything, but theres no sweetness, brown sugar, or vanillin that stand out to me, but its a toffee like presence none the less. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and pepper; but with no spicy prickle. The longer this has sat the more leathery and almost earthy this has gotten, as if its all getting in its own way… I’ll be back with water in a bit. P: Medium bodied, with an almost jumpy texture that slips between bright and acidic, oily and bold, and aggressively zingy. I was told to expect balance, but there is a disturbance in the force here. Grandmas apple pie: sharp apple, crumbly brown sugar topped shortcrust pastry, cinnamon spice. Theres more though, bitter espresso, bitter cocoa, tannic wine influence, dark red fruits of cherry and plum, a little malt out the back side if you look for it. F: Long. Leathery cinnamon, rich oak, crunchy brown sugar, fresh apple heading towards sweetness. A splash of water surprisingly did nothing for the nose except make me aware that this is verging on 60% ABV. I had hoped it would explode a big bouquet of magical goodness, sadly it stays heavy and clustered. The palate though, calms and relaxes itself the malt becomes a little more known, the fresh acidity of apple subsides slightly and the spiciness moves forward with the feinty leathers just about keeping things in line and mask the bitterness a little. I may have just found a floral pop too (I’m a big fan of florals). The finish, meh, much the same. 219 Distiller whisky tastes (and change not recorded) in and I’m pretty jaded. Exclusive releases, limited editions… blah blah blah. Marketing hype to peddle second rate junk. I didn’t come into this expecting much. I thought it would be bland and pretty on par with Nova, Fortis, or Solera (the core group). I was pleasantly surprised to find a loud and expressive youngster desperate to stand out from the crowd. Nothing exceptional, but plenty of character, and a lot of fun. A little browse of Distiller and the web and there are a lot (a lot a lot) of exclusive single barrel Starwards. I think all the rambunctious and rebellious single barrels combined well explains the run of the mill core Starward offerings that lack character and a lasting impression…. I think I’m finally getting to understand Starward. Distiller whisky taste #219 [Pictured here with some rather fantastic galena from Madan, Bulgaria. Galena is a lead sulphide and likes to form cubic crystals. These shiny beauties were formed from hydrothermal fluids at 280-350 degrees C ~30 million years ago due to the intrusion of some igneous rocks. Whats special about these particular ones are that the soft rounded corners, known as ‘melted galena’ are formed when chemical conditions of mineralising fluids changed and begun corroding the galena along crystal margins. And just like this exclusive whisky, melted galena is almost exclusively from the Madan Bulgaria deposits] Starward running scores: Nova: 3/5 Fortis: 3.25/5 Solera: 3.75/5 10th Anniversary: 4.25/5 Vitalis 15th Anniversary: 4.5/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Maple Cask: 2/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Cognac Cask: 3.5/5 Projects, Octave Barrels: 3.75/5 Projects, Dolce: 2.25/5 Projects, Bourbon Cask: 3.5/5 Projects, Tawny #2: 3.5/5 Projects, UnExpeated: 3.75/5 Projects, Peated: 2.75/5 Small Batch, Cherry Wood Smoked: /5 Small Batch, Hungarian Oak: 3/5 Small Batch, Sticky Toffee Apple: 3.25/5 Small Batch, Chardonnay: 4/5 Whisky Loot Single Barrel Single Malt Exclusive: 3.5/5