Australian winners from the 2021 World Gin Awards

Just released in Spring 2020, Four Pillars' Olive Leaf Gin has been awarded the World’s Best Signature Botanical Gin and Ester Spirits the World's Best Navy Gin at the 2021 World Gin Awards.

The World Gin Awards commend the best gins in the world, with entries from across the globe tasted by an expert judging panel to decide the World’s Best. 

Ester Spirits won Best in Show for their Australian Navy Gin, (tying for first place with South Australia's, Never Never Distilling Co) at the Australian Gin Distillers Awards in Sydney last November.

Four Pillars Olive Leaf Gin collected its first gold medal at the 2020 World Spirits Competition in San Francisco.

Four Pillars’ distiller Cameron Mackenzie was runner-up for Master Distiller of the Year to Anne Brock, head distiller at Bombay Sapphire. 

Other notable mentions go to The Hospo Group (Far North Queensland owners of Three Wolves, Flamingos Tiki Bar and Wolf Lane Distillery) who were awarded Bar Group of the year and Ben Tassone of the Margaret River Distilling Company awarded Visitor Attraction Manager of the Year.

Highly commended mentions for Australians included Archie Rose's Nick Baxter - runner up Brand Ambassador of the Year, Four Pillars as Brand Innovator of the year and Manly Spirits Co The Scavenger Hunt as Campaign Innovator of the year.

Four Pillars’ unique use of olive oil and olive leaf as botanicals (from Cobram Estate in Victoria) was recognised by the judging panel in the prestigious awards. 

The Signature Botanical category rewards; “distilled gins that focus on a particular botanical or flavour and prominently state this on their label. Flavoured exclusively through distillation, these spirits still have juniper as a key focus, but have an additional focus on the signature component.”

In an interview with Mackenzie last year, he talked about the Four Pillars Olive Leaf Gin which was five years in the making before being released. He said: “After visiting Cobram Estate during olive harvest in 2019 we realised olive oil could be a brilliant botanical alongside olive leaf. The aroma, flavour and texture of fresh olive is stunning, and we did a year of trials before finalising the recipe for this gin...

“The botanicals include a big base of juniper with a savoury overlay of coriander seed, rosemary, olive leaf, extra virgin olive oil, bay leaf, lemon myrtle, macadamia, orris root, and fresh lemon and grapefruit."

According to Four Pillars it’s perfect for a dirty martini or a Spanish-inspired gin and tonic.