@jdriip Given that it's 60% wheat, it's no wonder that the finish is short. I see wheat-based whiskies from time to time, but I always wonder "why?"

@cascode Looking forward to some of the Austrialian single malts making it to the states! Westland and Balcones are solid (IMHO), but Amrut and Kavalan have (also IMHO) some killer offerings (though often for high prices). Cask strength with lots of character and minimal alcohol is super promising.

@Sobs45 Mrs Cascode & I visited Starward (New World Distillers) last year and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, but something about the distillery kept nagging at me. There is a commercial "success" vibe about them, that overwhelms the genuine drive to create great whisky at any price. I guess that's what Bill Lark must have felt about David (just my opinion - don't anyone get bent out of shape).

@cascode Yeah Aussie has great stuff alright... for me personally Starward is not a producer of it though. I must have driven by that distillery a handful of times and little desire to go inside. To be fair I've only had a couple but odd odd stuff

I guess I'm being a little harsh on the old Two-Fold, but I'm coming off a recent intensive tasting of local single malts and damn, we have some stonkingly good stuff here that no-one else is aware of. Seriously, better than many Scottish distillery products, better than Westland or Balcones (IMHO) or anything coming out of India or Taiwan. When you taste 6 straight cask-strength single-cask expressions that are highly characterful but you can barely taste the alcohol, that's a good sign right at the get-go - and this from distillers that have been working for less than 5 years in some cases.

@jdriip Ah, "AFFORDABLE" - there's the rub. There is no affordable Australian whisky, even over here. The combination of tiny distilleries in a huge country together with absurd excise rates levied by a corrupt government make it all excessively expensive. If you can find them at a sensible price then Limeburners and Lark are both well worth tasting, but I shudder to think of the cost. Hold out for a while - the scuttlebut is that things will get a bit better in the coming years, and folks overseas will get to see just how very good our local whisky can ber.

@cascode thanks for the enlightenment re the casks. I didn't mind this one at all and feel it is a decent introduction to Australian whiskey. What would you suggest as a good, relatively affordable, Aussie single malt?

3.25 is about as much as this whisky is worth, tops, and your notes are right on the money. Man, it's almost embarrassing that Diageo's development dollars have allowed Starward to make a big push into the U.S. market with this and pretend it is a top-tier whisky. There is SO MUCH more down here in Oz that blows this simple blended whisky clear out of the water. We think of this like you think of Jim Beam White Label. Oh, and I don't know where the official Distiller critic gets off giving this such a high score and babbling about French barrels - I can tell you for sure that the oak was 100% ex-quercus alba re-coopered for a range of red-wine barrels, and that's from the horses's mouth - I think David Vitale knows where his own barrels come from. I guess it should be a compliment - if this is genuinely seen as an 89/100 whisky then just wait till you guys get hold of some of our single malts. OK, I'll stop ranting now and get back in my box ... [get off my lawn you kids] ...