There’s a time for tradition. And there’s a time to go rogue. Solera was the first whisky where we borrowed from tradition then started asking questions. It left us with a whisky deemed world class not just by us, but award judges too. Solera is a traditional method the Spanish used to age their Sherry and keep it consistent. A fractional amount of each young cask is blended with more mature spirit. It’s the inspiration for making our Solera. And it means there’s still a touch of our first ever cask in every bottle made today. We source every Solera ingredient from just a day’s drive away. A quintessential grain like Australian malted barley was a no-brainer to start with. Then, for a bold, craft flavour we ferment our barley with brewers’ yeast. We wanted barrels with one hell of a history. Our Apera barrels, an Aussie fortified wine similar to Sherry, have typically held spirit over decades. That’s some seriously flavourful oak. We didn’t stray far to find ones we like. Our Apera casks mostly come from McWilliams Winery, right on the border between Victoria and New South Wales. We often recooper, shave and char our barrels before filling them. – Starward