Starward Solera Single Malt Australian Whisky
Starward Solera Single Malt Australian Whisky is a 750mL single malt bottled at 43% ABV, distilled in Melbourne, Australia from 100% Australian malted barley and matured exclusively in Apera casks — Australia's sherry-style fortified wine barrels. First released as the young distillery's debut whisky, it is blended under a traditional solera system, so younger cask spirit is married into mature whisky for consistency and a trace of the original Solera survives in every bottling. It is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor.
- ABV: 43%
- Size: 750mL (US bottling)
- Age: No age statement — solera fractional blending
- Casks: Exclusively Apera (Australian sherry-style fortified wine) barrels
- Grain: 100% Australian malted barley, brewer's yeast, double distilled
- Origin: Starward Distillery, Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Melbourne's First Whisky, Built on Apera Wood
Starward was founded in Melbourne in 2007 by David Vitale, with a simple brief: make whisky from Australian ingredients, in Australian barrels, shaped by Melbourne's famously changeable weather — the distillery sources its ingredients and casks within a day's drive of Port Melbourne, and the city's sharp temperature swings work the spirit in and out of the wood faster than Scotland's climate allows. Solera came first and remains a founder favourite: every drop matures in Apera barrels, the fortified-wine casks that are Australia's answer to sherry wood, before the solera blending ties each release back to the last. See what else the distillery sends north on the Starward vendor page and across our whisky collection.
Tasting Notes
The brand describes ripe orchard fruit on the nose with raisin, toffee and vanilla; a palate of caramel chew and creme brulee sweetness over ripe banana, fig and a little nougat; and a juicy, full finish that returns to raisin with a touch of oak and lingering dry spice.
How to Enjoy
Neat or with a splash of water to open the fortified-wine fruit; the Apera richness also stands up in a Whisky Sour or an Old Fashioned built on demerara. More world whisky is in our whisky collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Apera?
Apera is Australia's sherry-style fortified wine. Starward matures Solera exclusively in ex-Apera barrels, which give the malt its raisin, toffee and dried-fruit character.
How old is Starward Solera?
It carries no age statement. It is blended under a solera system — younger matured spirit is married into older whisky — so the bottling is defined by the method and the Apera casks rather than a single age.
Where is Starward made?
In Port Melbourne, Victoria, where the distillery was founded by David Vitale in 2007. Everything — barley, yeast and barrels — is Australian.
Fortified-wine wood, Melbourne weather, Australian barley — order Starward Solera online from Del Mesa Liquor in San Diego, CA.