Starward doubles capacity with new distillery

Australian whisky brand Starward has opened a new distillery that will allow it to double production following Distill Ventures’ investment in the business.

Starward has moved to a new distillery in Melbourne

In December last year, Distill Ventures – Diageo’s investment and mentoring business – confirmed its investment in single malt whisky Starward, but did not disclose the sum.

Launched in 2009 by David Vitale, Starward’s distillery was previously based in a former aircraft maintenance hangar outside of Melbourne.

In November 2016, the company will start production at a new site in Melbourne’s Docklands Precinct, which will allow it to double capacity to 50,000 nine-litre cases annually. The distillery will also feature visitor facilities including a bar, as well as on-site maturation warehouses.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if we re-evaluate and grow our capacity more,” Vitale told The Spirits Business. “We have the infrastructure to be able to do this – it’s about investing in the inventory.”

Vitale added that Starward will not keep its former premises. “It’s bittersweet for me because that place has my fingerprints all over it,” he said. “But this gives us an amazing opportunity to be right at the heart of Melbourne.”

Starward currently produces single malt whisky, with a portfolio consisting of apera and red wine cask-aged expressions made using barley sourced from between Hunter Valley in Northern Sydney and the Adelaide Hills.

Ingredients innovation

However, Vitale said the company intends to innovate with different base ingredients, particularly grain, which could be used to create whisky in the new distillery.

“We are not necessarily always going to be single malt,” he said. “Barley is really easy to process, especially because most of our team is either from a wine or brewing background. But I would be disappointed if we were still only single malt in five to six years’ time.”

Starward is currently available in Australia and the UK, with plans to launch in the US next summer. The brand is also seeking distribution in other parts of Europe and, eventually, Asia.

“There’s no short supply of interest, [but] we have a really big job to do to build awareness,” added Vitale. “We also have to be cautious about growing too quickly.”

Distill Ventures, first launched in 2013, said its investment in Starward enabled Diageo to expand its footprint in categories outside of traditional whisky-making regions.

Diageo typically acquires a 20% stake in the companies that receiving funding through Distill Ventures, with a view of acquiring the business outright at a later date.

“I was [recently] thinking about what we wanted to achieve in 2006 and that was to create a ‘distinctly Australian whisky we can offer the world with pride’,” said Vitale.

“We always knew that if we have any hope of achieving this, we would need external capital, but I never anticipated we could get this from a group of patient investors so soon. It’s exciting for me to have a partner that understands what we are trying to do. They said ‘we well help you as much as you want us to help’, and they have stayed true to this.

He added: “I cannot imagine a time in my life when I am not associated with Starward, but we need to be prepared to let go. The reality was, one way or another, it was going to happen.

“That wasn’t a concern. What was a concern was this means more than economics – it’s a passion of mine. I want to see Starward next to Scotch, America, Japanese, Irish whiskey on the back bar and I will lend my support to this in any way I can.”