Skip to content
  • Home
  • Whisky Top 10
  • Tasting Notes
  • About Thijs
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Whisky Top 10
  • Tasting Notes
  • About Thijs
  • Contact
logo
starward tawny

Starward Tawny (2019)

16 December 2020 0 comments Article Australia, Starward, Tasting Notes

As Christmas is inching closer (and the Netherlands is in full lockdown), I figured I’d take a closer look at a whisky that I feel is very Christmassy. You might not expect this pick, but the Starward Tawny will probably be my go-to whisky during the upcoming holidays.

Starward is a relatively small distillery in Melbourne, Australia, a city with a climate known for having four seasons in a day. This has a huge impact on their whisky, Starward’s Head Distiller Sam Slaney explained when I talked to him a few months ago. That’s why they’ve yet to release whisky much older than three years, even though they’ve been around for over a decade.

“We get huge temperature changes daily, but there’s also a big difference between winter and summer. We also store our barrels high, up to five or six meters high in tin sheds. So, we get big variations in our warehouses as well. We’re embracing our environment. What we found is that we get good, mature whisky in three to four years. That’s our sweet point. If we go beyond that point, the extraction from the barrels becomes too high.”

I’d say the Starward Tawny absolutely hits the right spot. But first, what is Tawny? It’s one of two fortified wine styles that exist in Australia. One is Apera, which is not unlike sherry. Tawny is very much similar to Port, a fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley in Portugal. The quarter casks used for the Starward Tawny are sourced from Yalumba, a prestigious winery in the heart of the Barossa Valley in Australia. If you’re an avid reader of this blog, you might have heard of Yalumba before.

Only 4,000 bottles of 50 centiliter have been released. Distilled in 2015 and bottled four years later at 48 percent, it retails at a hefty 80/85 euro in Europe. But I would argue the quality makes up for that price.

Starward Tawny (48%, OB, 2019)

Nose: Damp wood and dried red fruits, dates and touches of thyme, as well as mush banana and a whisper of menthol. A whiff of tobacco, fermented grapes and a touch of pralines. A slight farminess as well. Impressive.
Taste: A sweet and malty arrival with a pleasant creamy mouthfeel, followed by a spicy, almost fizzy quality. Proper chocolate notes, as well as espresso and roasted peanut skins.
Finish: Lingering spices and a gentle sweetness. Long.

Score: 89

Seriously proper whisky from this seriously interesting Australian distillery. Starward is one to watch. Their presence in Europe in relatively small, but I don’t expect that to last long.

If you’re interest in Starward has been peaked, maybe check out this fantastic interview with founder Dave Vitale.

Whisky provided by Salud Distribution

Photo: The Whisky Exchange

Thijs Klaverstijn Kingairloch 3
Thijs Klaverstijn

Thijs is a spirits writer and accredited liquorist from The Netherlands. He runs the blog Words of Whisky and contributes to a number of Dutch and international publications.

Tags: australia, starward, tawny

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Tumblr

Most popular posts

  • Glendronach cask (flickr ti yab) GlenDronach Is A Lot Older Than The Label Says
  • benromach 21yo 2020 Benromach 21 Years (2020)
  • secret orkney 1999 20yo michiel wigman Secret Orkney 1999 20 Years (Michiel Wigman)
  • glenallachie 1995 24yo the duchess 23 Glenallachie 1995 24 Years (The Duchess)
  • caol ila 2008 12yo torsten paul rogers whisky company Caol Ila 2008 12 Years (Roger’s & Torsten Paul Whisky Company)

Recent blog posts

  • Upcoming: Blind Tasting Competition
  • Sexism & Misogyny in our Whisky Community
  • Monologue: Waterford’s Mark Reynier on Biodynamics & Terroir
  • Why The Whiskybase Gathering Should Be On Your Bucket List
  • Visiting Ballindalloch Distillery: Tradition & Patience in Speyside

Most popular posts

  • Glendronach cask (flickr ti yab) GlenDronach Is A Lot Older Than The Label Says
  • benromach 21yo 2020 Benromach 21 Years (2020)
  • secret orkney 1999 20yo michiel wigman Secret Orkney 1999 20 Years (Michiel Wigman)
  • glenallachie 1995 24yo the duchess 23 Glenallachie 1995 24 Years (The Duchess)
  • caol ila 2008 12yo torsten paul rogers whisky company Caol Ila 2008 12 Years (Roger’s & Torsten Paul Whisky Company)

Search Words of Whisky

About

Words of Whisky is the blog of Thijs Klaverstijn, a freelance writer and journalist from Twente, a region in the east of The Netherlands. He's been drinking whisky for quite some time now, but a visit to Scotland in the summer of 2013 has turned his love for whisky into somewhat of an obsession. This blog serves as an outlet for that obsession.

Copyright Words of Whisky 2018