Yarra Valley-based distillery Four Pillars Gin has been named the 2019 International Gin Producer of the Year at the 50th Annual International Wine and Spirits Competition in London.

Four Pillars is the first Australian distillery to win the award. The IWSC is the world’s largest and most prestigious international competition for spirits with more than 3,000 entries from all corners of the globe.

Co-founder and Distiller Cameron Mackenzie received the award in front of 600 leaders of the global drinks community at the black-tie gala at The Guildhall.

Four Pillars Gin was established in 2013 in the Yarra Valley on the outskirts of Melbourne and has become one of the world’s benchmark distilleries, Australia’s No.1 craft spirit and a leading light in the Australian gin revolution.

“To win this award, on the eve of our sixth birthday is really, truly, bloody incredible,” Mackenzie said.

“When we started making test batches of gin back in 2012 we never in our maddest, wildest dreams thought this could happen so quickly. To say that I am in a state of disbelief would be vastly understating the true state of my disbelief.

“This award is a tribute to every single person who has helped us make, sell, create, drink or buy one of our gins. This is reward for all of them. This award is not for a single one of our gins but for the whole of our gin business and that’s what makes it so incredibly special.

“The previous two winners of this award are Hernö from Sweden in 2017 and Kyoto Distillery in Japan last year so we couldn’t be in better company. They are two of the greatest distilleries and two of our best mates in the world of gin.”

The IWSC Award for International Gin Producer of the Year is recognition of Four Pillars Gin’s leading role in the world of gin up to and including 2019, creating some of the most awarded gins on the planet, and leading the way for craft spirits producers around the world through its commitment to collaboration, creativity, design and world-class experiences, all anchored by its home in Healesville, Yarra Valley.

The award for International Gin Producer of the Year caps off a pretty epic 2019 for Four Pillars, who, among a bagful of accolades both local and international, became the first ever local distillery to be awarded Australia’s Liquor Brand of the Year at the Australian Liquor Industry Awards. 

Four Pillars was founded by Cameron Mackenzie alongside drinks industry veteran Stuart Gregor and creative brand strategist Matt Jones in 2013 and the business took on Lion (a subsidiary of Kirin) as a 50% shareholder in April 2019. The three founders remain at the helm of the business and Four Pillars is today distributed in more than 30 markets across the world.

Four Pillars today produces around 100,000 cases of gin annually (equivalent to 600,000 bottles). Australia is in the middle of a gin boom which has seen consumption of locally-produced gin grow by 33% in 2018 and likely a similar number in 2019. There is estimated to be around 180 distilleries in Australia producing gin today. In 2013 there were fewer than 15. In the past five years (2013 – 2018), Australian consumption of gin has increased by 15.2% per annum and Four Pillars has grown at an average 83.4% a year since its launch in 2013 (IWSR reports).

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