Starward's smoky oddball is the one that undercuts

Here is the shape of it. The model sets each Starward against its crowd, the ten whiskies rated closest to it on flavour, and the brand's middle price sits at $100. Four of the five come in above their crowd, by margins that run from modest to outright bold. One comes in below. That one is the Unexpeated, and it is the story this week.

A word on the house first. Starward is a Melbourne distillery, and its whole identity rests on maturing whisky in barrels that held Australian red wine. That is why the model keeps reading a jammy, wine-cask fruit right across the range, and it is why a Starward tastes unlike almost anything from Scotland. The approach has earned the distillery a devoted following and a premium spot on the shelf. The catch is the one the numbers keep surfacing: a distinctive style is not the same thing as a well-priced one.

The Unexpeated is $75 against a crowd near $92, about 18% under. The joke in the name is that it is peated, and the whisky backs it up: a maritime smoke sitting under ripe fruit, apricot and berry and a jammy sweetness from the cask. Because the drams the model rates nearest it are smoky single malts that cost more, a peated Starward at $75 lands as a genuine undercut rather than a premium. If you have been curious about what this distillery does when it turns the smoke on, this is both the interesting bottle and the cheap one, which is a rare pairing.

Everything else asks you to pay up. The entry point by price is the Two-fold, a double-grain blend at $74 against a crowd near $47, about 57% over. It is the gentlest Starward, apple and light caramel over a soft grain-and-barley base, built for mixing and easy drinking. Pleasant, but priced well clear of the plain grain whiskies it sits beside, so you are paying for the label more than for the liquid.

The Nova is the house's flagship single malt and the closest of the wine-cask bunch to fair: $94 against a crowd near $79, roughly 19% over. This is the one most people mean when they say Starward, all jammy fruit and apricot and ripe berry, rich and approachable, the red-wine-barrel signature in full. A fifth over its peers is a real but reasonable premium for the bottle that defines the range.

Then the gaps widen. The Panettone is a seasonal, sweet-cask bottling at $105 against a crowd near $65, about 62% over, carrying dried fruit, orange peel and a baked, sweet warmth that lives up to its name. The Solera, matured in a fortified-wine solera system, is the dearest of the lot at $143 against a crowd near $63, about 127% over. It is the richest and most concentrated Starward, apricot and jam and dried fruit piled up, and it is a lovely dram. The problem is the company it keeps: the whiskies the model rates nearest it are far cheaper, so more than double their price is a steep way to buy the extra richness.

Put the range in a line and the pattern is clear. The wine-cask bottles climb from a fair-ish flagship to a flagship-plus that costs more than twice its crowd, each step adding sweetness and concentration and a good deal more price. The peated outlier runs the other way and lands under its field. If you are chasing value, the direction the smoke points is the one to follow.

There is a wider point worth holding onto. Australian single malt usually sits at the dear end of any shelf, young as the category still is, so a local bottle landing under its flavour-peers is a genuine rarity. That is exactly what the Unexpeated manages. The rest of the range behaves the way Australian whisky normally does, asking a clear premium, which makes the smoky outlier's position stand out all the more and makes it the one to act on while it holds.

So, buying by situation. Want the most interesting bottle and the best price in one? The Unexpeated at $75 is the clear pick, a smoky Australian malt for less than its smoky peers. Want the definitive Starward experience? The Nova at $94 is the fair-enough flagship and the one to meet the house on. Want an easy mixer or a gentle introduction? The Two-fold at $74 does the job, though you are paying a Starward premium for it. The Panettone at $105 and the Solera at $143 are for drinkers who already love the sweet, rich, wine-cask end and have decided the richness is worth a clear surcharge. For everyone else, the money goes furthest on the bottle with smoke in it.