When you enter Starward’s newly refurbished bar, don’t expect chesterfields and tweed-jacket types swilling whisky by a fireplace.

“You wouldn’t think you’re in a whisky distillery,” Patty Karakostas, Starward’s hospitality and experience manager, tells Broadsheet. “It’s modern, it’s bold, it’s colourful, which goes completely against the grain of what you think a whisky distillery should be, and that’s the point.”

The 120-seat venue inside the Port Melbourne distillery has been revamped with a new bar, kitchen and food offering. Experienced firm Studio Y is behind the fit-out, and it’s smartly partitioned the large warehouse into distinct sleek and cosy dining areas.

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“It’s about bringing whisky back to the dinner table,” says Karakostas. “Every item on the menu has whisky in it, and that connection with Melbourne’s food culture has always been an important part of our story.”

Head chef Drew Traynor (ex-Eau De Vie) has designed a menu featuring small plates, snacks and grazing boards with ingredients sourced – as with grains used to make Starward’s whiskies – from within a day’s drive of the distillery.

To start, there’s house-baked spent barley bread, which uses recycled grains from the whisky-making process. It’s a clever example of Traynor’s approach, and seriously moreish with Pure Peninsula honey and whisky butter.

More substantial offerings include smoked trout, quinoa and a sweet potato croquette lifted with a whisky and mayo sauce. Fried chicken gets similar treatment accompanied by a Starward Two-Fold barbeque sauce and blue cheese ranch dip.

Look out for the new Distillery Chef’s Experience, where an expert guides you through a three-course sip and grazing menu with each course paired to a whisky cocktail.

Starward has long fought to become Australia’s mixing whisky, and you can see how it’s going with seasonal cocktails – the Pumpkin Latte Milk Punch is the current go-to – and a tidy list of classics. A substantial back catalogue of whiskies is also on pour alongside an exclusively Victorian wine and beer list.

Seasoned whisky lovers should head straight to the “Fill Your Own Bottle” offering. You can sample two different Starward whiskies straight from the cask – the current white wine cask matured option is our pick – then customise your own label and take-home gift box for home sipping or gifting.

Starward’s strength has long been its forward-thinking approach and broad appeal, and true to form, there’s something for everyone here. Distillery tours, masterclasses, and events like the upcoming Whisky & Dreams festival will also be held in the space year-round.

Starward Distillery & Bar
50 Bertie Street, Port Melbourne
(03) 9005 4420

Hours:
Thurs 3pm–9pm
Fri & Sat 12pm–10pm
Sun 12pm–7pm

starward.com.au