Australian whisky GI could ‘restrict’ category

A geographical indication for Australian whisky could hamper the “responsibility” of distillers to drive innovation, the founder of Starward whisky has argued.

Starward whisky founder David Vitale has shared his thoughts on a prospective GI for Australian whisky

Speaking with The Spirits Business, David Vitale, founder of Starward, said Australian distillers are in a position to test the boundaries of whisky making since legislation in the sector is relatively “relaxed” compared to that regulating Scotch, Irish and American whisk(e)y.

“[For Australian whisky] it’s a minimum of two years in wood – not even oak – and it needs to come from a cereal base,” he said. “We want to keep innovation at the heart of what we do.

“We [Australian whisky distillers] make amazing liquid and we are determined to bring our a-game, but also offer something quite distinctive – innovation has to be the driver of that. Whether that’s with cereals or fermentation or barrels, we have got so much latitude to develop that it’s our responsibility to do so.”

He said of a prospective GI status for Australian whisky: “I think this would contradict innovation. It would head down the path of restricting innovation, which is the thing that really sets us apart. It would be a shame for our whiskies to lose what they are, which is a snap shot in time.”

Vitale – who will start production of Starward at a new distillery in November, doubling the brand’s production capacity – also said he believes Australian ‘craft’ whisky distillers will create infrastructures that allow them to experiment with different base ingredients.

“Some distillers have aligned themselves with an Tasmanian terroir, but I think we will see more evolve into an Australian style of whisky, like we’ve seen with Australian wine,” he added. “We have got a huge amount of diversity in wine and I think that will transfer into whisky. It’s quite exciting.”

For Vitale, Australian whisky is “more Australian than Scotch is Scottish” because most brands source their base ingredients from within their home country.

Starward sources barley for its single malt whisky from between the Hunter Valley in northern Sydney and the Adelaide Hills.

Vitale said he hopes the brand will diversify away from exclusively single malt production, but added that international growth of Starward, and Australian whisky in general, may require lower price points.

“If we are going to drive innovation and growth, we have to think about our price point coming down, not up,” he said. “It would make me happy to have a £35 whisky on the shelf.

“[This would] democratise whisky but scale is our biggest impediment and you get to scale through infrastructure. We also need a raison d’être from a flavour point of view because we are in a crowded market.”

Starward’s international expansion plans have been bolstered by the investment of Distill Ventures – Diageo’s investment and mentoring unit – which was confirmed in December last year.