Starward Vitalis
Polkamatic: A Starward Vitalis review
If you catch my lame joke in this subtitle, I applaud your taste in music.
But let's return to the topic quickly: The Starward Vitalis.
This Australian whisky is a special edition to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Starward distillery.
Playfully named after the founder David Vitale, this limited single malt whisky is a mix of a set of casks that together create this warm and elegant dram.
Offcourse the Starward signature Australian red wine cask was used, but enriched by a rum cask, a tawny port cask, a bourbon cask and an Apera cask. The last one being the Australian name for sherry style wines, because they cannot call it sherry.
Packed in an insanely beautiful box with a dark design label, this whisky is an eyecatcher. But it is not about the packaging, does the content packs a punch as well?
The whisky, bottled at 52%, has a lovely brown-reddish color, carrying the warm and deep hues of that of a Rooibos tea.
A quick dance around my glass leaves a thin line with medium thick legs, slowly dripping back into the larger mass in the glass.
After my first sniff, I had to pause. So many things happening at the same time and not all what i expected. Knowing Starward to be able to be very fruity, this dram carries dark and deep notes on the beginning and only at the end some fruit pops up.
Think dark cacao and chocolate chips, toffee, plums and some slight hints of oak. Roasted almonds, soome vague scent of coffee and then fruits: pineapple, mangoes and a dominant passion fruit.
The first sip carries much of the same flavours in the beginning: Dark, deep notes of chocolate and roasted nuts. Freshly baked cake and prunes. Christmas cake and a warm citrus pops up: Blood oranges with cloves.
in the second sip, the coffee returns again, with a small caramel swirl.
The finish is medium long and carries some tannines: The chocolate is paired with some leather and the sweet notes remind me of a half melted hot fudge chocolate ice cream I once enjoyed.
I truly like this dram and even got a second bottle to share with family and friends. If you are interested, be quick. Special edition means limited availability.
