Over the past two days, Australian spirits producers Four Pillars and Starward have both received international recognition by two major spirits competitions. Yesterday, Four Pillars was shortlisted for the International Wine & Spirits Competition’s International Gin Producer of the Year for a record fifth time. Since then, the San Francisco World Spirits Competition officially crowned Starward as the Most Awarded Distillery of the Year.
Four Pillars has previously won the Gin Producer of the Year award in 2019, 2020, and 2023.
“To be in the top handful of gin distilleries in the world is a great testament to the quality and style of our gins,” said Cameron Mackenzie, Co-Founder and Head Distiller.
“You also can’t deny that to be shortlisted five times just shows the passion of our team to make the best gins we can year after year.”
At this year’s IWSC competition in June, Four Pillars’ Barrel Aged Bloody Underhill Shiraz was awarded 99 points, positioning it as the world’s highest scoring gin and as one of only six products to achieve the near-perfect score.
“We always knew this was a special gin made alongside our friend winemaker Sarah Crowe from Yarra Yering,” said Mackenzie.
“We couldn’t be prouder to wave the flag for Australian gin around the world.”
Four Pillars also received five Silver Medals for Rare Dry Gin, Bloody Shiraz Gin, Olive Leaf Gin, Spiced Negroni Gin, and Whiskey Barrel Gin at the IWSC 2024.
Also on the shortlist for International Gin Producer of the Year is Alembic Distillery from Japan, ELG Spirits from Denmark, Poetica Distillery from Croatia and Herno Gin from Sweden. The overall winner will be announced at the IWSC Awards Ceremony in London on 12 November.
Also championing Australia on the global stage is Starward, which was confirmed by the San Francisco World Spirits Competition as the Most Awarded International Distillery of the Year.
“It is incredibly thrilling to have this recognition from a highly competitive global competition, across all spirit categories,” said David Vitale, Founder.
“It is the Olympics of the international spirits industry, and our Melbourne-made whisky has taken top honour. With this recognition, it is absolutely plausible that the Australian whisky industry could be as big internationally as Japanese whisky, which would be a massive boon for our export industry,”
To achieve this accolade, Starward’s portfolio claimed eight platinum, 13 double gold and 13 gold medals, beating more than 5500 entries worldwide at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in May.
According to CEO of the Australian Distillers Association Paul McLeay, Starward’s business model represents a strong “example of the sort of modern manufacturing opportunity the government can turbocharge with the right policy settings in place.
“For example, a tonne of barley sold on the open market attracts between $300 and $500. When Starward sells that tonne of barley as whisky overseas, it is worth closer to $40,000 to $50,000.”
Despite this, Paul McLeay told Drinks Trade during an interview last week that calls to alleviate pressures currently being faced by Australia’s spirits sector are currently going unanswered.
“We’ve explained to the government that the Australian spirits industry could be a $1 billion export industry by 2035. We’ve used economic analysis and Mandala Partners to produce a report to show what it takes to get us to a $1 billion export industry within 10 years, and we’ve found that most of the policy settings are right there: our proximity to Asia, the quality of our products, the desire to have Australian products that are very desirable on the world stage. We have great success in things like our other food and beverage offerings, and the only thing holding us back is this ever increasing excise.”
David Vitale believes that the future of Australian whisky production lies in capitalising on the sectors unique characteristics.
“Within a day’s drive of our distillery, we have some of the world’s best wineries and have direct access to these luscious wine barrels to age our whisky in,” he said.
“[Also], the fact we experience four seasons in a day allows us to impact flavour into our whisky and create an award-winning whisky in just three years, when it would take eight to 12 years anywhere else.
“Australia has all the ingredients and opportunity to craft quality and distinctiveness in the whisky we produce.”
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Interview: Co-Founder and Head Distiller discusses Four Pillars’ current positioning
