The quality of Australian spirits highlighted by Starward’s global win

Starward has once again highlighted the quality of Australian spirits on the global stage, taking home the title of ‘Most Awarded International Distillery’ from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition for the second time.

Starward was the first Australian distillery to be awarded the honour and the 2024 title came after the distillery scored eight platinum, 13 double gold and 13 gold medals for its suite of Melbourne-made whiskies, beating more than 5500 entries worldwide.

Starward Founder, David Vitale said: “It is incredibly thrilling to have this recognition from a highly competitive global competition, across all spirit categories. It is the Olympics of the international spirits industry, and our Melbourne-made whisky has taken top honour. With this recognition, it is absolutely plausible that the Australian whisky industry could be as big internationally as Japanese whisky, which would be a massive boon for our export industry.

“Starward’s innovation lies in how we age our whisky, not technology, patents, or IP. We capture the adventurous spirit of our hometown Melbourne and the rich flavours of local ingredients. Within a day’s drive of our distillery, we have some of the world’s best wineries and have direct access to these luscious wine barrels to age our whisky in.

“The fact we experience four seasons in a day allows us to impact flavour into our whisky and create an award-winning whisky in just three years, when it would take eight to 12 years anywhere else. Australia has all the ingredients and opportunity to craft quality and distinctiveness in the whisky we produce.

“We are riding a generational trend toward premiumisation and localisation as we evolve whisky from an after-dinner drink to one that can be enjoyed across more occasions. Because of this shift in attitude, we’re seeing younger, more diverse people starting to drink whisky, and this is a global phenomenon our entire industry should capitalise on.

“We are proud of the people we currently employ at Starward and the numerous others whohave worked with us over our history, many of whom remain in the industry building capabilities within other emerging spirits distilleries.”