There are two things in this world that I am unabashedly passionate about: good people and good booze.
As I was telling some of my co-workers yesterday, one of the best feelings in this industry comes when your favorite wine or spirit is made by someone you genuinely respect and care for. That’s been the case with Four Pillars gin since the moment I met Cameron Mackenzie and Stu Gregor a few years back. They walked into my store with a bottle of their Rare Dry gin and I instantly fell head-over-heels for both their incredible, orange-scented elixir and their kind, open-hearted Aussie demeanor. We’ve been friends ever since.
If you’re unfamiliar with Four Pillars distillery, let me quickly get you up to speed: it’s a boutique operation in Australia’s Yarra Valley, about an hour outside of Melbourne, that makes gin and only gin. No whisky, no vodka, no liqueurs or any of that stuff. Just gin. Only gin.
Not only do they make gin, they make what is for my money some of the best gin on the planet—if not the best.
I’m not alone in that assessment, either. There are other more professional entities that have bestowed various titles and honors of that nature upon Four Pillars multiple times over. “World’s Best Gin.” “Best Gin in the World.” That type of thing.
Why is the gin from Four Pillars so good? I’ll give you two important reasons straight away:
FOCUS OF FLAVOR: The Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin is unmistakably orange-focused in its flavor. It’s like smelling a big bag of fresh oranges and then tasting that citrus all over your tongue when you sip it. When you mix a gin and tonic with the Rare Dry, you’re actually supposed to add an orange slice instead of a lime. In comparison, the Navy Strength expression is finger lime-focused. That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of other herbs and botanicals in the Four Pillars recipes, it’s just to say that their gins have very specific characters that are very, very, very well curated.
TEXTURE: What immediately grabs most drinkers when they first taste Four Pillars gin is the purity of flavor. Second, however, is the texture. These pot-distilled beauties have a supple mouthfeel and somewhat weighty texture on the palate. They’re so easy to drink that at times I’ve poured myself a straight glass of Four PIllars gin like I would a fine single malt Scotch. That’s been especially true over the last week with the new Olive Branch gin.
Cameron working on a batch of gin at the distillery
So let’s talk about the new Olive Branch gin, the newest kid on the Four Pillars block and a savory delight that I am unhealthily obsessed with at the moment. Imagine if someone distilled a Dirty Martini into a spirit, so that you didn’t need to add any olive juice or any olives! In essence, that’s what the Olive Branch gin amounts to: pure briny goodness, but inherent to the gin itself, not resulting from additives or flavors!
Using three types of cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil and olive leaf tea from the world-class groves of Victoria's Cobram Estate, the team at Four Pillars then added botanicals like rosemary and bay leaf to bring out the flavors of the Mediterranean (even though they're really from the Cam’s garden), with native macadamia nuts and lemon myrtle as well.
I’ve been carrying a bottle around with me all week, sampling friends and colleagues, and these are some of the more detailed and scientific responses I’ve heard thus far:
“Wow, that’s really good.”
“Holy shit, that’s incredible!”
“Oh my God, that’s amazing.”
When something tastes as wonderful as the new Four Pillars Olive Branch gin, professionalism goes out the window and human emotion takes over. You’ve got all the specs above, but in the end all I really have to say is: wow, wow, wow.
-David Driscoll