Starward Whisky

Haven’t heard of Starward Whisky? Shame on you. This is one of Melbourne’s treasures, liquid gold swirling in glasses in our favourite bars across the city.

David Vitale fathered the idea back in 2004 and has reared it since it was only a glint in his eye. And man does he have some good parenting skills.

Aside from being extremely well-bred, this little baby is just how we like it – Melbourne born and raised. Cool and industrial chic, the distillery is located in an old airport hangar at Essendon Airport.

Only a quick nip out of the city it’s not just where the whisky is made, it’s also where all the fun takes place.

This weekend, the team are opening the doors of the distillery, with a limited amount of tickets available for their open day on Saturday 26th July 2014 from 12pm-3pm.

The tours will take place every half hour, starting at 12pm. It’s chance to get up close and personal with the production team and view the process of making a hand-crafted whisky – barley to bottle – on one site.

Once the tour’s wrapped up you’ll be able to try some of the finished product, Starward Whisky. Yes, tastings rock.

CEO and founder, David Vitale will be there to answer any questions and give you a run down of his experience, of forming a whisky distillery from the ground up.

Throw in some light grub and a 200ml gift bottle to take home, all for $30, it would be pretty darn rude not to.

Can’t make it Saturday? Or perhaps feeling a little fancy? Then these guys have something special for you too.

How about attending a Whisky Degustation Evening? What is a degustation, I hear you cry! Ok, maybe that was just me.

But it’s basically indulging in five or six courses of specially designed plates designed to complement and enhance the unique flavours of the whiskies showcased. Yum.

It’s really a pretty special opportunity to check out a selection of premium whiskies matched to food and experience first hand how the whisky is made.

Held in the distillery itself, food will be under the care of Chris Badenoch and Julia Jenkins of Josie Bones fame, whose track record in creating great dishes that work really well with beers and whiskies will definitely make this a memorable evening.

Their appreciation of the balance and subtleties of flavours in different whiskies means that when they match each whisky with carefully selected food, boy oh boy do they transform the plate and palate.

Open Day – 26th July – 12 – 3pm
For more info and tickets: starward.com.au/openday

Whisky Degustation – 1st August
For more information and tickets: www.starward.com.au/degustation

New World Whisky Distillery
Building 136/181 Larkin St
Essendon Fields