Wine

Starward Nova

Starward Nova

Starward distillery was founded in 2007 by David Vitale. Producing whiskies from the outset, Starward received investment from spirits conglomerate Diageo in 2015 via their Distilled Ventures program, which allowed the distillery to expand their facilities. Starward Nova is the brand’s signature offering, featuring malted barley fermented with brewer’s yeast. It then goes into a variety of casks from Australian wineries, namely shiraz, cabernet and pinot noir from the Yarra and Barossa vallies, where it remains for the entire maturation of approximately two years. Starward asserts the aging process is accelerated due to the area’s volatile climate.

Branch & Barrel Plumwood

Branch & Barrel Plumwood

Branch & Barrel Distilling was founded in 2015 by friends Ryan Morgan, Scott Freund and Tom Sielaff after years of aging new make whiskey with different woods. One of them was wood from a plum tree, and was perhaps the one that finally pushed them into getting the distillery off the ground for real. The base spirit is a bourbon mash with high barley but some of their offerings are not aged in virgin oak barrels and thus do not meet the regulatory requirements to call it bourbon. The Branch & Barrel Plumwood is matured entirely in plum wood barrels and made in very small batches.

Wayne Gretzky No 99 Red

Wayne Gretzky No 99 Red

What to do when you’ve finished a legendary hockey career with the moniker The Great One? You could rest on your laurels, but you could also start a winery followed by a distillery. Wayne Gretzky Estates opened in 2017 in southern Ontario and boasts a wide array of offerings from both areas, including some beer. Taking a cue from recent trends, one of the brand offerings is the Wayne Gretzky No 99 Red, a rye whisky finished in casks taken from the estate’s winery – specifically the red one. While the details on which specific red wine casks are not specified, the winery offers Merlot, Shiraz Cabernet, along with multiple mixed reds.