Whisky review: The Starward Projects

Luke McCarthy -
Whisky Reviews
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On tasting: Starward Dolce, Starward Bourbon Cask, Starward Tawny, Starward Ginger Beer Cask #5, Starward NWP First Distillery Last Release, Starward NWP 100L Red Wine Cask

The New World Projects series started in 2014, two years after Starward’s first release ‘Solera’ bottling hit the market. The program gave consumers a look at what Starward’s team, who’d all come from diverse brewing, winemaking and scientific fields, were playing around with behind the scenes.

Specialty one-off releases were common in the Melbourne craft beer industry at the time, and Starward’s early projects followed their lead. We saw Starward release some seriously experimental offerings in those years. From a genever-styled spirit and a fortified vintage porter, to a range of different gins and bottled cocktails – the latter of which have gone on to become core products.

Alongside those, dozens of whiskies matured in ex-cognac, pedro ximenez, port and assorted wine casks have been made available through the cellar door and select retailers and bars.

And yet, the perception that Starward is just a producer of a few affordable core range malts still lingers. I’d argue the opposite. They’ve probably been the most experimental Australian whisky producer of the last six years.

Not all projects and experiments work out, as you’d expect. The gins never panned out, for instance, but the bottled old fashioned and boulevardier, originally New World Projects, have gone on to find significant audiences and accolades. And whatever your opinion of the ginger beer cask project (you can see mine below), it’s now one of the most sought-after in the Starward range.

Taste through these projects, old and new, and you get a fascinating sense of how Starward has developed. They figured out what worked, what didn’t, what people enjoyed, and then responded accordingly.

Will the experiments continue at the same pace in future? I doubt it. The larger experiment is now about convincing Australian and international drinkers that Starward is a whisky for the world stage. The more recent, renamed ‘Starward Projects’ whiskies show that: they’re more consistent, more targeted, and probably better drinking. Makes those earlier bottlings even more fun and intriguing.

 

  • Starward Projects Bourbon Cask Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 52%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled in 2013 at the Essendon Fields site and matured for four and a half years in ex-Makers Mark and Wild Turkey barrels. Bottled August 2018. 1200 bottles in total.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 86
    Nose
    Banana, toffee and the expected vanilla and coconut. But then the full spectrum of Starward's spirit opens up: kiwi fruit, lemon curd, pears and oranges.
    Palate
    A little prickly and hot at first. Then the bananas and pears again. So creamy and fruity as it progresses, banoffe pie, fruit tingles and some toasty oak from the cask.
    Finish
    Great length, and fascinating to taste Starward without that lick of wine on the tail.
    Comments
    Such a fascinating bottling. There's no doubt Starward's spirit works brilliantly in ex-Bourbon casks (even better than wine casks, some would argue). But this style is a long way from the signature Starward profile, where wine casks will always take the lead. Highly recommend trying this.
  • Starward Projects Tawny Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 48%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled in 2015 at Essendon Fields and matured for four years in 100 litre casks from Yalumba that previously held tawny. Bottled in 2019. 4000 bottles in total.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 86
    Nose
    Syrup and Christmas cake. Hints of damp, winey oak, fried bananas, shortbread and brandy sodden Christmas pudding.
    Palate
    Spicy and woody. The oak quickly asserts itself and brings on a tart fruitiness - fresh raspberries and quince. The malt eventually catches up, adding dark chocolate, roasted malts and all the fruitcake and cinnamon.
    Finish
    Getting dry and woody. Hello tawny.
    Comments
    Think I'm suffering from a bit of tawny fatigue, but this is bang on for the Aussie style. The dry tartness extracted from the casks overshadowed the spirit a bit much for me. But others have loved that influence, so take your pick. Good drinking either way.
  • Starward Dolce Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 48%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Initially matured in red wine casks before being finished in casks that previously held an Australian dessert wine similar in style to Marsala. Bottled October 2020. 4800 bottles in total.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 87
    Nose
    Treacle, juicy fruits, and yep, Marsala (there, I said it). The nose is brilliant actually: dried apricot, Shortbread Creams, strawberries, milk chocolate and some bright florals.
    Palate
    Super rich upfront. Comes on like Nova initially - all the classic winey, fruity funk. The extra dimension from the dessert wine comes later, and brings on dessicated coconut, marzipan, wine sugars, and you do get the advertised cola notes.
    Finish
    Less of a sweet wine feel towards the back, gets drier and woodier.
    Comments
    Don't let the packaging fool you (even though I like the packaging) - this isn't some sweet candy bomb. It's classic wine cask Starward with an extra layer of sweetness and intrigue thanks to the dessert wine cask. It's also really well integrated and pretty damn tasty. A genuine Christmas special.
  • Starward Projects Ginger Beer Cask Single Malt Whisky #5
    The Stats
    • ABV: 48%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: For this fifth iteration of the ginger beer cask project series, Starward's Solera whisky was finished for two and a half years in casks that previously contained ginger beer produced by Boatrocker Brewery. Bottled April 2020. 1400 bottles in total.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 76
    Nose
    Lime cordial, Berocca, lemon grass and ginger snaps. Huge citrus and spice - lemon myrtle, tinned fruit salad and orange oil. Weirdly floral, too. It's an odd thing.
    Palate
    Hot, prickly and fizzy, The malt eventually comes through (phew) and you get a better sense of how the spirit marries up with the zingy ginger. Some classic Starward green fruits underneath, but that big ginger just dominates the spirit, and neither are playing along.
    Finish
    Spice and ginger just keeps going, with a red chilli finish.
    Comments
    I'll be honest, I've never liked the ginger beer cask bottlings. I’ve always found them unbalanced, prickly and overly spicy. That said, it’s a great project: fun, innovative, sells out almost instantly, and fans absolutely love the stuff. So what would I know.
  • Starward New World Projects First Distillery Last Release Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 62.3%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Starward's Essendon Fields distillery - the last bottling from that site. This was a vatting of first and second fill apera casks. Bottled September 2016. 540 bottles in total.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 87
    Nose
    Big fruitcake and spice. Definitely some heat, but it blows off to open up into cloves, cherries, polished timber and jam drops.
    Palate
    Short upfront, then boom! Big toffee and spice rack from the apera. A little wine funk, but with water, it evens out, gets creamier and fruitier (improves with water).
    Finish
    Apera latches on and keeps driving.
    Comments
    An apera beast. This was a whisky that showed, like a number of project releases at the time, that the Starward team could still knock out big, bold, flavoursome gems like the rest of Australia's malt whisky producers. Now a fascinating bottling - a lot of devoted Starward fans love these old apera bombs.
  • Starward New World Projects 100L Red Wine Cask Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 62.5%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Starward's Essendon Fields Distillery and matured in a 100 litre first fill ex-shiraz cask from Yalumba. This was a one-off 2017 bottling for Melbourne's Bad Frankie.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 88
    Nose
    Perfume, caramel and loads of red berries and panna cotta. Not as spice-driven as the tawny and apera matured whiskies - it's more stewed fruits and crushed grapes.
    Palate
    Rich and creamy. Big Barossa shiraz notes, and the wine adds a thick chewiness. But the tannin level is in check - that's one of the breakthroughs here in the Australian context. This never becomes too dry and woody. It stays fruity, and the malt and the Starward fruit hold up to the influence of the cask.
    Finish
    Not the longest, considering all the flavour involved.
    Comments
    There are lots of versions of these casks bottled for various retailers and bars in Australia and overseas. This is where you see the beginnings of all the work that's gone into the progression of Starward's wine cask program. In finding the balance between Starward's spirit and these quality Yalumba red wine casks, the team found a way to inject loads of wine and fruit into the whisky without extracting too much tannin. Cool stuff.
How We Score
Luke McCarthy
Luke McCarthy is the editor and publisher of Oz Whisky Review. An independent writer, author and drinks columnist, Luke's written about whisky and spirits for numerous Australian and international publications and is a judge at the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards. His book, The Australian Spirits Guide, the first to tackle the history and resurgence of the Australian spirits industry, was published in 2016 by Hardie Grant Books.