David Vitale, Starward Whisky co-founder, said: "We all have a 'special occasion' whisky cabinet which is overflowing with options, but the sharing cabinet is curated. We believe we have an opportunity to elbow out some space and create an alternative to the great whiskies from around the world with an Australian whisky, matured in Australian wine barrels." Launched in Europe earlier this year, Left-Field is the newest addition to the Starward core range. Matured in red wine barrels, Starward Left-Field is an Australian single malt whisky, specifically made with the European palate in mind. The most acclaimed flight of the competition was Australasia single malts, in which seven Master medals were given out, including two to Starward and Lark.

Nothing in the Terms shall exclude or limit our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or for death or personal injury resulting from gross negligence or willful misconduct by us. Interest in whisky being made in countries outside of the traditional nations of Scotland, Ireland, and America is flying high. As consumers face price hikes for well-known brands, and deal with tighter purse strings, there are boundless opportunities for drinkers to explore whiskies being made from Asia, Canada, and South Africa, to European countries such as Wales and Denmark. While the richer, darker elements of Left-Field profile seems more suited to an Old Fashioned or Manhattan/Rob Roy (what are they called when they’re made with Australian whisky? A Cate Blanchett? A Phar Lap?) than a Sour, I still think this is the approach that has greater merit. Left-Field is versatile enough to suggest a fair number of bartenders will (hopefully) soon be having a lot of fun experimenting with it. But, a gain this isn’t very left-field, given Starward’s other expressions are all great mixers. STARWARD was born from a simple idea, borrowing knowledge from the past and marrying it with the best of what Australia has to offer this iconic spirit category: its barley, its barrels, and its climate. It is the temperamental climate that allows STARWARD distillers to take advantage of Melbourne’s ‘four seasons in one day’ climate to age their single malt in three years – in ex-sherry casks known as Apera casks – a process that founder David Vitale calls ‘elemental maturing’. Melbourne’s own David Vitale was inspired to create a spirit that reflected his hometown’s famed ‘four seasons in a day’ temperature swings and captured the production values and craft of a city surrounded by some of Australia’s leading wine regions and regarded as the microbrewing capital of Australia.

The final team was made up of David T Smith, spirits writer, consultant and co-founder of the Craft Distilling Expo, who chaired Keegan Menezes, independent rum consultant, and Julia Nourney, independent spirits consultant. We may, but are not under any obligation, to release new functionalities and tools or other features for the Service every now and then. Any new functionalities, tools and features shall be part of and governed by the Terms from the moment they are launched and/or available. Further, we reserve the right to modify, change, discontinue the Service, add or remove features, update the Service, change its appearance, temporarily and permanently, at any time, in whole or any part thereof. Another Gold also went to Romania’s Carpathian Single Malt Whisky Cognac Cask Finish, enjoyed for its “nice maltiness” on the nose and hints of “chocolate, malt, cereal and some red fruits”. Sixteen Silver medals concluded the flight. Uresti was particularly positive about the European single malts: “You can see the whole category has a solid and consistent quality, and we see they’re getting better, replicating things done in Scotland and Ireland in a good way.”

Chambers added: “Some lovely examples but also some that were a little mean and too woody. There also seems to be an obsession with bottling at high ABV. Some of these would benefit from being lower strength.” This week we turn our attention to Starward Left-Field, an Australian single malt with aspirations to woo us Europeans. The Starward distillery is looking to make its mark in Europe Starward Left-Field: a marvellously mixable malt Ingredients: 60ml Starward Left-Field whisky, 10ml sugar syrup, 2 dashes Orange Bitters, 2 dashes Angostura Bitters, pink grapefruit to garnishDark Lark 2023 had a “round and sweet palate, with a nice walnut and cinnamon note and silky tannins”, while the brand’s Tasmania Peated was “big and powerful, with a lovely edge of spices, and crisp fruit and citrus zest”. The panels swapped Australasia for North America as Canadian whiskies were sipped next. Two Masters were given to Proximo Spirits for its Pendleton Original and Pendleton Midnight whiskies. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, the remainder of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect. Whisky is booming globally, too. It is expected to post an increase of 23% in volume and 29% in value by 2026, according to data from IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, with an increase in activity particularly in its largest global markets, India and the US. Regardless of whether the Service offers the functionality to contribute, you are solely responsible and liable for any content and information that you create, upload, post, publish, link to, duplicate, transmit, record, display or otherwise make available on the Service or to other Members, such as chat messages, text messages, videos, audio, audio recordings, music, pictures, photographs, text and any other information or materials, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted (“Contributions”).