Four Pillars' gold medal winning beauty returns

Back again for 2022, Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz Gin is back again and has been just awarded a Gold Medal and Best of Category in the International Flavoured Gin category in the 2022 American Distilling Institute’s International Spirits Competition.

Four Pillars say it is one of the distillery's best experiments from 2015 when distiller Cam Mackenzie steeped a parcel of locally sourced Shiraz grapes into its Rare Dry Gin.

The ripe Shiraz grapes give the gin its natural sweetness, combined with Rare Dry Gin to give flavours of citrus, dense raspberry notes and a spice character to finish, the gin is a true alchemy of all the best bits of gin and shiraz. grapes grown right here in our backyard in the Yarra Valley and surrounding Victorian cool-climate vineyards.

“This year’s vintage was not without its challenges with much of Victoria receiving rain and hail at the exact time the vines didn’t need it, around a third of the way through growing season,” said Four Pillars co-founder and distiller, Cam Mackenzie. 

“The weather wiped out a lot of the crop leading to some of the lowest yields on record, but after a wobbly start to the season the weather remained mild allowing for vibrant and bright fruit to mature. The low cropping created an intensity of flavour we have not seen in a long time.”

The 2022 bottle worked with one of Australia’s leading photographic artists, Luke Shadbolt a long-time favourite artist of the distillery.

Co-founder, Matt Jones, and Mr Shadbolt met at a Sydney exhibition in late 2021 and talked about the sculptural ‘liquid as solid’ quality of his images of the Australian ocean.

Mr Shadbolt experimented with creating a copper etching of one of his iconic photographs, a scene from the Australian ocean reminiscent of Hokusai’s Great Wave - a true celebration of the magic of liquid in motion, just like the Shiraz grapes that swirl around in gin for eight weeks to create the Bloody Shiraz Gin. 

Printed directly onto the glass, this year’s artwork depicts a sculptural waveform set against a winedark night time landscape, using the deep red of the Bloody Shiraz liquid as the backdrop to the scene. 

Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz Gin will be available for purchase from 31 May 2022 from www.fourpillarsgin.com, at the Four Pillars Distillery, Healesville, Vic and Four Pillars Lab, Surry Hills, Sydney and from all good bottle shops. RRP $85.00. 700mL. ABV 37.8 per cent.