Fettness
Starward Nova Single Malt
Single Malt — Victoria, Australia
Reviewed
January 19, 2020 (edited March 2, 2021)
Nose: Fruit. Red apples, fig, plumb, cherry, caramel, vanilla, and a toasty brown sugar leads up the rear.
Taste: A fraction of the nose is there, subtle fruit, apples and other murmurs get swallowed up by wood, you will suck in your cheeks if you drink enough. Dark chocolate might be found on the aftertaste.
Note: I do not think most reviews have been fair, the nose is great, I could sniff away all day, the taste isn't bad just lacking in comparison.
Like a beautiful date that can't kiss. It's nice to admire but your lips will be disappointed.
I think a lot of people get excited by the aroma only to have that excitement dashed by the taste, leaving them bitter. I can enjoy the nose on its own but if the taste could match this world be a whiskey to behold.
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@WhiskeyLonghorn I would have made the same choice.
@cascode interesting. Thanks for the info. The bottle I saw was bottles by Starward for Total Wine, my local big box liquor store. It was a cask strength (56.2%...?) bottling with the wine cask ageing. I was tempted but eventually succumbed to Lagavulin 8 (speaking of Diageo...) instead.
@WhiskeyLonghorn Just as an aside, I think the only reason you guys see so much of Starward is because they now have big money from Diageo backing them, and probably access to their distribution network. It would be too cruel to call Starward the Australian Johnnie Walker, but they are considered a bit, hmm, "slight" by most whisky geeks here. David Vitale used to work for Bill Lark, which is where he learned his trade, but he left to found Starward when Bill refused to compromise Lark single malt in order to increase production. That's the story I heard, anyway.
@WhiskeyLonghorn An independent Starward? Wow, I've never seen one! It's not "New World Projects", is it? The distillery is actually called New World Distillers and they bottle experimental runs under that name. Would it be a step up? Hard to say - for me the Solera or Wine Cask Finished expressions are the best of their products so far, but only a small step above the Nova. If you can find them, IMHO the "best" Australian malts currently available are from Lark ; Limeburner's ; Sullivan's Cove ; McHenry & Sons ; Overeem ; Black Gate ; Bakery Hill and Hellyer's Road. There are certainly others I'm overlooking but those are the ones I've tried that come immediately to mind. Bakery Hill is always a good bet, as is Lark, but in your neck of the woods they might be very expensive.
Too bad the palate couldn’t stick the landing. I was eyeing his one because it’s one of the only Australian pours available in my part of the States, and after reading @cascode write about Australian whisky I wanted to try it. I saw an independent bottling of Starward at cask strength the other day. Think that would be a step up?
Good review, pretty much my impression as well. David Vitale is almost obsessed with the dream of making a cheap Australian whisky, and I have a feeling something is getting lost in translation.