SMWS 148.1 Apera For Everyone Starward 6 Year Old

The first ever release of Starward from world renowned independent bottler the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. This cask is called "Apera For Everyone' and is a 7 year old distilled in 2013 and matured in a 1st fill apera barrique. A very hotly anticipated bottle, only 30 bottles were released internationally with the rest of the cask exclusively available to Australian SMWS members.

Starward

In 2003 David Vitale sold his IT businesses and after making the move to Tasmania shortly afterwards, began planning his next business venture. In 2004 he met Bill Lark at the Lark distillery’s cellar door and the two bonded over a shared vision of what Australia had to offer the whisky world. Bill offered David the position of business development officer, which David gladly took for two and a half years. In 2007 he felt it was time to start his own business in the whisky space and Starward was born. In 2008 the first Starward distillery would open in an old Qantas maintenance shed in Essendon and begin producing in 2009. After spending many years on the verge of bankruptcy David’s whisky would come into fruition in 2013 when Whisky & Alement bought a case of their wine cask edition. The whisky would see great feedback and interest in Starward would grow exponentially throughout the next few years.

In 2015 Starward received a large cash injection from Diageo’s funding project “Distill Ventures” and was able to open their Port Melbourne facility in 2016. The closure of the Essendon distillery and the opening of Port Melbourne allowed Starward’s production to jump a huge amount, now being able to produce up to 250,000 Litres/year of spirit. Harking back to David’s initial vision for the distillery, Starward single malts are typically matured in still wet wine casks sourced from the Barossa Valley as well as some Australian Apera casks too. The relatively quick maturation for Starward’s whisky is characterised by the unique climate that Melbourne provides, often seeing a substantial fluctuation in average temperature within a short period of time. Consequently, most Starward whisky is ready for drinking after only four years in cask. The quality of Starward has become more and more evident with their releases picking up many spirit tasting medals and the interest of world-renowned independent bottlers. In just the last few years Starward has been bottled by Adelphi, Berry Bros & Rudd, That Boutique-y Whisky Company as well as the Scottish Malt Whisky Society.

Scottish Malt Whisky Society

Originally founded in 1983 by a small group of friends in Scotland, the Scottish Malt Whisky Society has grown to be one of the world’s premier independent bottling companies. With branches across the globe and over 30,000 members, the SMWS has established itself as the go-to for quality single cask whiskies. The society began its journey when a group of friends purchased a cask of whisky from the Glenfarclas distillery, intended to be shared and drunk as they saw fit. When a portion of the Vaults building in Leith became available the friends decided to set up a membership only society in the premises. Bottling that very Glenfarclas cask and labelling it “1.1” referring to the 1st distillery they bottled and the first release of said distillery. They continued to purchase casks and release them month by month, later dubbed “Outturn”. In 1995 the society would open their Greville St premises in London and 2004 the Queen St location in Edinburgh. Also in 2004 the SMWS was sold to Glenmorangie who were then purchased by Moet-Hennesy shortly after. In 2015 the society was then sold to a private collection of investors, now known as “Artisanal Spirits Company”.

With almost 40 years of experience bottling whisky under their belt it's no surprise that the Scottish Malt Whisky Society has seen the evolution of the worldwide whisky industry. As of 2021, the SMWS has bottled 150 different distilleries/styles of spirits including bourbon, cognac, brandy, armagnac, rye and even rum from brand new distilleries to those closed many decades ago. In 2021 the Australian branch of the SMWS selected the first ever Australian whisky for the Society in the form of a two year old Apera matured single malt from the Archie Rose distillery in Sydney. Shortly afterwards a six year old, also Apera matured, whisky was selected from Starward distillery in Melbourne.