Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin Review

Creating a contemporary Australian gin

Founded in 2013, Four Pillars has been at the forefront of the vibrant Australian gin boom. And the story of the brand all starts with a conversation between two wine industry veterans, Cameron Mackenzie and Stuart Gregor. The original plan was to make a tonic, but after 72 hours that quickly turned to gin! Together with Matt Jones, they created Four Pillars.

As avid gin fans with a great collective knowledge of the wine industry, I guess it seems fitting to create a gin in one of the country’s great wine regions. Their name is simple but effective; it stands for the four ‘pillars’ that form the brand’s ethos:

1. a great still
2. great botanicals
3. great local water
4. a great amount of love, attention to detail and craft

That number follows them throughout their story which you’ll see this throughout the review.

The process

How Four Pillars Gin is made

Learning about Four Pillars’ distillation process it’s clear that they take great pride in how their gin is made. For the base, they source wheat spirit from New South Wales. This is then diluted to 30% ABV before distillation commences.

450 litres are then added to the pot of Wilma, along with the nine dry botanicals for maceration. The tenth and final botanical is orange, and quite unusually, these are distilled in their whole form, through vapour infusion. The vapours from the pot rise to the botanical basket above where the oranges are placed, steaming them to release their delightful flavour.

Over seven hours, the liquid condenses and recondenses through the pot, basket and seven plates on the column still. These remain closed throughout to further purify the spirit, acting as a “mini-distillation” through each plate. This helps to make the gin super-smooth and comes out at an impressive 93.5% ABV. It’s then diluted down to 41.8% ABV and rested for a couple of weeks before bottling.

Whole oranges

Why whole oranges? Well, put simply the peels didn’t work well with the spices in the gin, coming out rather candied. It was Dr Klaus Hagmann from CARL who suggested the fresh fruit. While unconvinced, the team at Four Pillars gave it a shot and describe the first run as “a revelation!”

This means less gin, but it’s one example of the dedication to the craft Four Pillars exhibit. Each batch of gin needs to be made to the same high standard as the last, regardless of seasonality.

While a great brand story is important, it absolutely must deliver on flavour. And it’s fair to say Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin is more than up to the task.

Neat

On the nose spice and citrus dominate – unsurprisingly given the botanical mix.

With a sip, sweet orange leaps forward, followed by a hint of subtle florals. The finish is extremely smooth. Pepper providing spice rather than heat, with a hint of liquorice from the anise. Juniper is there throughout, but never takes the main stage, preferring to be the support act for the dominant citrus and spices.

With tonic

As a gin and tonic, Four Pillars is much heavier on the citrus of the orange. You can really tell they’ve used the fresh fruit as you can almost taste the juice, but it’s perfectly balanced by the spices throughout.

There’s a delicate sweetness of liquorice too from the anise and this far more prominent with tonic. I found the liquorice flavour became even stronger, the higher the ratio of tonic to gin, so if that’s not your ‘thing’, keep the tonic to gin ratio on the lower side.

Indeed, for my palate, this is definitely one where less tonic is more, somewhere in the region of one and a half/two parts tonic to one part gin being my ideal sweet spot. Too much and the liquorice became too dominant. Indeed, the distillery themselves suggest 2:1 tonic to gin.

While great with a classic tonic, I’d recommend Fever-Tree Mediterranean.

Four Pillars is a cool, contemporary gin brand. They embody a lot of what I love about the gin revival – passion, great storytelling, innovation and provenance. It all combines to make Four Pillars one of Australia’s most talked about gins.

The word ‘innovation’ is often overused, but it certainly applies to Four Pillars in spades. If you’ve ever had a taste (or even a look) at their lineup of gins, it’s clear they’re guys who are pushing boundaries. Not in a shiny, coloured, sparkly kind of way, but in a direction which is in keeping with the category.

Rare Dry is one of four gins which make up their core products, along with Spiced Negroni, Navy Strength and Bloody Shiraz. Given Stuart and Cameron’s wine background, and indeed where the distillery’s located, an experimentation with grapes was, perhaps, inevitable. Despite this, their Bloody Shiraz was probably not what anyone would’ve expected, steeping Shiraz grapes in their Rare Dry Gin to create a truly unique and exceptional product.

Further-highlighting their innovation they partnered with the amazing Hernö Gin from Sweden to celebrate the best of the north and south hemispheres with Dry Island Gin. The packaging for Four Pillars fits perfectly with their brand. It doesn’t shout in any way; it’s clean, modern and simple. And it’s by doing so that it stands out.

Where is Four Pillars Gin made?
Four Pillars Gin is distilled in the Yarra Valley near Melbourne, Australia.

What botanicals are used in Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin?
Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin uses 10 botanicals. These are Tasmanian pepperberry, lemon myrtle (both in dry leave form), cassia, star anise, cardamom, coriander seeds, juniper berries, lavender, angelica root and Australian organic whole oranges.

What type of gin is Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin?
While is uses a London Dry process, and is therefore classified as such, Four Pillars doesn’t have the classic flavour you’d expect from a classic London Dry and is more contemporary in nature.

What garnish is best with Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin?
Best served with a wedge of orange.

What tonic is best with Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin?
Four Pillars is best served by Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic Water.