DrRHCMadden
Starward Two-Fold Double Grain
Other Whiskey — Victoria , Australia
Reviewed
April 21, 2024 (edited May 6, 2024)
Damn it. I didn’t want to be here, I was happy to never finish making notes on the core line up of Starward. I was exhausted by the end of twenty-one previous reviews. But, then someone went and bought me a bottle of this. Sigh. This is Two Fold, the ‘budget’ entry from Starward; 60% wheat, 40% malted barley, and two years in Australian red wine barrels. If you have a read of their marketing drivel you realise that Starward have no intention of this being drunk on its own. They want it mixed, drunk with food, diluted.
Theres a chance this may not be too kind.
N: A little thin and with rough edges of ethanol/acetone burn. Very fruity and sweet with notes of plum, cherry, dates and oily-nutty malt. It’s actually not a bad nose but its youth and rough edges wont let you just sit and smell.
P: Juicy plump. Lots of clove and nutmeg roll around with vanilla-fudge and crunchy brown sugar. Bright with berries, peach, plum, and a little buttery-nuttiness.
F: Medium. Slightly tannic brown sugar, cinnamon and black pepper, a somewhat watery strawberry.
Ok. It’s not awful. It’s just fine, surprisingly. But, my word is this boring. There is the most generic fruitiness with a passing interest delivered by oak spice. But in no way would I suggest anyone should spend AUD$70 for a forgettable experience that is designed for mixing into cocktails. My potentially unkind comment then is: meh, whats the point?
Distiller whisky taste #268
[Pictured here with a Serpentinite from Port Maquarrie on the East Coast of Australia. Serpentinite is a rock comprised of serpentine group minerals. Serpentinisation is a low-temperature metamorphic process that is typical in subduction zones and requires rocks of the upper mantle or oceanic crusts to be altered. These rocks are oxidised and hydrolysed with water into serpentine minerals. This serpentinite formed during subduction zone metamorphism that took place ~500 million years ago. Its not terribly exiting to look at, which seems fitting for this dram.]
Starward running scores
Two Fold: 2.5
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: 2/5
Small Batch, Mesquite Wood Smoked: 2/5
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
Smoke & Mirrors Single Cask Oak Barrel Exclusive: 3.75/5
Ex-Apple Brandy LMDW Antipodes Single Cask: 4.5/5
70.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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@DrRHCMadden Thanks, I’ll be interested to see what it is like now. It also occurs to me that 2020 (when I wrote that review) was the year that Diageo started marketing Starward in the US and UK, so maybe not a coincidence that for a while it was much improved.
@DrRHCMadden Thanks, I’ll be interested to try it again. If it has gone downhill I‘ll update my review. It is 4 years old now. It also occurs to me that 2020 (when I wrote it) was the year Diageo started marketing Starward in the US and UK markets and were sending review samples out to critics. Maybe it’s more than just a coincidence that it suddenly improved for a short while 🤔
@cascode haha, whisky of the year based on improvement. Low bar initially set makes this a potentially easy accolade to win! Haha! I’ll decant you a sample, save you the distaste of purchasing a whole one.
@DrRHCMadden Ah, there is more to that 3.75 rating than meets the eye. If you read right through my very long review you will see that it is in two parts. The top bit is a retaste where I gave it 3.75, and the bottom part is the original review where I gave it only 2.5 When Twofold first came out it was very ordinary and also the packaging was intentionally obscure. Although not illegal the packaging led buyers to believe, by omission of detail, that it was a malt whisky and not a blend. It was a product intended specifically to compete with low and mid range blended scotch but I can tell you for a fact that sales were poor so two years later both the blend and packaging were changed. This was when I gave it 3.75 and Whisky of the Year on the basis of it being the most improved Australian whiskey of that year. However I should probably buy another bottle and try it now because it may have reverted to earlier form, but I’m not much motivated to do so.
@cascode I am pretty shocked to see that you have this 3.75 and a “whiskey of the year” back in 2022. I commented at the time that I had had this at a bar and thought it was great. Either I am now biased against Starward (probably), or they have regressed and the new labels and bottles are also a reflection of a more generic, more average drinking liquid (also quite probable).