Four Pillars Gin

Looking forward to chatting with Ryan Kelly and his Creative Natives community about what a decade of Four Pillars Gin has taught me about managing (and owning) a brand. In particular, I'm looking forward to focusing on the importance of in-house teams taking more ownership of brand strategy. And on the importance of brand being seen as a whole-of-business responsibility, touching on everything from product development and innovation to culture and customer experience. Link to the webinar is in the comments! #fourpillarsgin #brandstrategy #leadership

Four Pillars is nominated for the 2024 IWSC INTERNATIONAL GIN PRODUCER OF THE YEAR - for a record fifth time! Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine taking this trophy home once, let alone three times - in 2019, 2020, and again in 2023. To be back on the shortlist for the world's most prestigious spirits show, in the competition's biggest category, shows the passion of our crew in Healesville. They continue to make the best gins they can, and it goes to show the quality and style of our gins are continuously world-class and getting better every year. Surely we can't win this again. But we’ll be up early on 13 November to watch the awards live from London and pop champers regardless of the results. Big congrats to our fellow gin producers on the shortlist - our long-time friends Hernö Gin from Sweden, Alembic Distillery from Japan, ELG Spirits from Denmark and Poetica Distillery from Croatia.

Introducing 2024 Bloody Pinot Noir Gin! Over the years, Cameron Mackenzie OLY and the distilling team have blown us away time and again with the flavours they’re able to pack into new gins. But few moments will ever compare to that first taste of Bloody Shiraz Gin back in 2015. Cam brought a couple of trial bottles up to Sydney to share with Stu and Matt and the rest was gin history.    The idea of soaking fresh wine grapes in Rare Dry Gin for eight weeks before pressing the grapes and bottling the naturally sweet, stunningly colourful result was something entirely new for us. And for years Bloody Shiraz caused website crashes and panic buying in bottle shops around the country as people were determined to miss out on another limited vintage release.    Today, of course, things are a bit different. We crushed more Shiraz fruit than almost anyone else in the Yarra Valley to ensure thirsty gin lovers around Australia and around the world don’t miss out on their favourite bloody gin.    But for those of us who miss the days of scarcity and gin FOMO, luckily Cam and the team had a new trick up their sleeves. Bloody Pinot Noir Gin. We made a small batch last year (with all the grapes we could afford… that Pinot fruit is fancy) and it sold out in a heartbeat. In fact it never even made it to general release as our thirsty email subscribers grabbed the whole lot.    This year, thank goodness, we’ve made some again. And, with luck, there might be enough to go around (early access opens today over at https://lnkd.in/gbn32sHM). It’s a tribute to our home, our place, at the heart of wine country. And it’s a reflection of our love of flavour, of experimentation, and of the constant delight in doing small things, even as our brand continues to grow around the world.

Every day, the copper pipes that line the bar in our Healesville Distillery bring fresh gin straight from the tanks in our Stillhouse to the bar taps. That means our finest output, courtesy of Jude, Wilma and Beth (the names of our gin stills), is served fresher at our distillery than anywhere in the world. Plus, by piping our gin straight from the source, we’re saving hundreds of bottles a week in glass waste. Serving up delicious gin in a way that treads a little lighter on the planet? That's a win win.

Awesome news out of the UK this week with seven of our gins winning a medal at the Spirits Business Gin Masters competition! Seeing our gins on the world stage never gets old for us. Over ten years in the gin game, there have been a lot of changes and a lot of new players too. There were more than 300 entries from over 135 entrants in this year’s competition alone, so a huge achievement for our distilling team on such an incredible haul. Read all about it here: https://lnkd.in/gy7DnK6j

Rare Dry Gin is flying high! And by high we mean all the way up in the air with our friends Qantas. Our friendship with The Flying Kangaroo goes way back to 2015 when we made Modern Australian Gin as an exclusive collaboration with Qantas. And in 2021 we were honoured to make QF100 Gin to help them celebrate their 100th birthday. Fast forward to today, and the gin that started it all, the ultimate expression of Australia’s unique and diverse flavour culture, Rare Dry Gin can now be enjoyed whenever you’re flying international First, Business or Premium Economy. Least to say, we're bloody chuffed. So, whether you're heading somewhere fabulous or heading home to the greatest place on earth, you can now enjoy the best at 38,000ft. Cheers friends!

We always knew the final gin in the Four Pillars x Yarra Yering series was one-of-a-kind, and it turns out we were onto something. Barrel Aged Bloody Underhill Shiraz Gin has scored 99 points at the IWSC 2024! We couldn't be prouder to wave the flag for Aussie gin around the world. To read more about this extra special gin, head to https://lnkd.in/gDzD_YNi

A huge win for our first savoury gin. Proud to see Olive Leaf Gin awarded Best of Category, International Signature Botanical Gin and a Double Gold Medal at the 2024 American Distilling Institute International Spirits Competition.

It's not every day you find yourself representing the best of Australia at a feast on a pier in California! But that’s what happened last month when we took part in the Great Australian Bite - a one-off dinner showcasing food and drink producers from the most delicious country on earth (in our humble opinion). During cocktail hour, guests mingled along Malibu Pier, sipping on Bloody Shiraz Bramble Spritzes and Dirty Martini Highballs while they snacked on freshly shucked oysters and lamb sausage rolls. We were in excellent company alongside Qantas, who were celebrating 40 years of flying direct from Sydney to LA. They taught us that every dinner party should have koala teddy bears and Tim Tams. The feast itself was amazing - a collaboration between superstar low-waste chefs Josh Niland, Jo Barrett and Monty Koludrovic, who shared some of their wonderful philosophies of sustainability and closed-loop food systems. The meal included grilled prawns cooked to perfection, a knockout lobster bouillabaisse pie, and a cameo from our neighbours at Yarra Valley Caviar! All in all, everything was so delicious and we were super proud to be there. Stay tuned for more adventures in America - Jennifer Bailey has big plans!

Twenty years ago, four Australian distillers banded together to form the Australian Distillers Association, giving a collective voice to their efforts to make world-class spirits in Australia. Today, there are over 500 members of Australian distillers, every one of who has helped make ours the most dynamic and exciting distilling scene on the planet. This group is special to us, and we're particularly proud of our co-founder Stuart Gregor who fought hard for exise tax reform and helped grow the whole Aussie craft spirits movement while he was President. To celebrate the 20th anniversary we created a one-off celebratory gin to gift attendees at their gala - inviting every state to contribute botanicals to represent our delicious country. And we were stoked to see our co-founder Cameron Mackenzie OLY inducted into the 2024 Hall of Fame this year. Here's to Australia and all of the awesome folks who distil here!