Meet the man behind the award-winning Australian whisky you’ve probably never heard of
David Vitale founded Starward in 2007 to create uniquely Australian whiskies aged in red wine barrels. It won Most Awarded Distillery of the Year in the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, beating even established Scottish and American brands.

David Vitale, creator of Starward whisky. (Photos: Starward)
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When Starward Whisky was awarded 12 Double Gold and three Gold medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) in 2022 – the largest haul ever by a single distillery – no one was more stunned than its founder David Vitale.
The Port Melbourne distillery took home the Most Awarded Distillery of the Year award, trumping 4,000 distilleries, including stalwarts like The Macallan, Glen Scotia and Jack Daniel’s. The competition is the oldest and largest of its kind and widely acknowledged as the Oscars of the spirits world.
A Double Gold medal is given only to entries that receive a unanimous Gold medal rating by all the judges on the panel. “We were the youngest distillery to win and we were up against distilleries that were 30 to 100 years old. While we never doubted the quality of our whisky, to be recognised internationally so soon after starting is extremely humbling,” said Vitale.

Born in Melbourne and now based in the US, Vitale had sold off his e-learning business in the early noughties. He then toyed with the idea of starting a microbrewery to indulge in his passion for craft beer but soon realised that beer didn’t travel well as a product. While exploring other business opportunities, he was directed by a friend to the famous Lark Distillery whisky bar in Tasmania. There, standing among the rows of whiskies, he found his calling.
“I thought, oh my goodness, this is everything that I love about beer but in a format that we can take to the world,” Vitale shared, his eyes brightening at the recollection of the “a-ha” moment.
He ended up working in Lark Distillery for three years but he had a vision of creating whiskies that were food-friendly and versatile enough to be used in cocktails. His favourite pairing? “Because my family of origin is from Sicily, my happy place is a whisky negroni with a classic margarita pizza,” he said with a smile.

That vision, though, “was a generation away” as the industry then was too focused on proving to the traditional whisky drinker that Australia could make the spirit as well as the finest Scottish distilleries.
In 2007, Vitale decided to start Starward to produce a whisky that expressed his homeland in taste and terroir. Think Australian wheat and barley from producers just a day’s journey away, and ageing whiskies for three to four years in wet barrels that once held bold, full-bodied Australian reds such as Shiraz and Cabernet instead of using charred casks.
It was a no brainer to use these ingredients, said Vitale. “Why would we choose anything else? It is exciting when whiskies speak of their origins. It is also interesting when we move out of the maker’s world into the drinker’s world to create something friendly and approachable.”

Unsurprisingly, Vitale faced a sceptical traditional market who were used to associating luxury and scarcity with older whiskies. Vitale shared: “It took a long time for us to convince people that good quality and great tasting whisky can be made in a shorter time frame because one Melbourne year is very, very different from one year in Scotland.” The city’s volatile weather, where cold Antarctic blasts and hot northern desert winds cause the barrels to expand and contract at a much faster rate, infuses the whisky within with distinct red fruit notes and a deep amber-burgundy colour that is often found only in older whiskies.
The brand’s bold and playful approach with a local bent has led to creative products from canned cocktails to small-batch whiskies like the Sticky Toffee Apple finished in American apple brandy barrels. Starward has also partnered Melbourne’s Her Bar to create a 40 per cent ABV whisky infused with floral honey from the Mornington Peninsula and worked with Mr Black, a Melbourne coffee liqueur producer, to create a bottled coffee Old Fashioned.
During a pairing dinner in October, we sampled six Starward whiskies, including the latest release made with Islay’s Lagavulin distillery, one of the oldest on the Scottish island. After the whisky was matured in red wine barrels, it was finished for another 18 months in peated Lagavulin barrels. It was an intriguing smoky and fruit forward spirit with hints of sea brine and a herbal finish – a very apt night cap.

The Two-Fold and signature Nova are easy-going pairings with richly flavoured dishes such as scallops in butter sauce or harissa-drizzled octopus. The 15th anniversary limited-edition Vitalis is a combination of six whisky parcels from different types of seasoned casks such as bourbon, rum and wine. The aromatic raisin and toffee nose with a sweet-spicy palate made the 52 per cent ABV spirit an uplifting foil to the treacle tart dessert made of whisky chocolate whip, whisky caramel and vanilla sponge. The Solera, which is aged in Apera (Australian sherry barrel) delivers bold, rich notes of caramel, toffee and creme brulee, which added complexity to the Starward whisky-flambed suckling pig.
Having launched Starward in Japan since 2020, Vitale is now focusing his efforts on Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore. The brand is reaching for the stars, just as its name suggests. Vitale said: “We want to be a modern Australian whisky that embodies the cosmopolitan food scene in the country, and especially Melbourne’s spirit of always innovating and pushing boundaries.”
Starward Australian Whisky is available at maltwineasia.com