Now Reading
Australia Officially Has The World’s Best Gin Producer For The Second Year Running

Australia Officially Has The World’s Best Gin Producer For The Second Year Running

The Oscars of booze (otherwise known as the International Wine and Spirits Competition, or IWSC) is currently wrapping up in London, and Aussie distillery Four Pillars has just nabbed the coveted title of International Gin Producer of the Year – for a second consecutive year.

But they’re not the only Australian gin to be recognised.

Australia has garnered a reputation for producing top-notch gins the last few years, with brands like Four Pillars, Archie Rose, Seppeltsfield Road Distillers and Melbourne Gin Company setting benchmarks internationally. It’s a sentiment confirmed by the IWSC, which awarded nine Aussie gins with gold – two of which were from Kangaroo Island Distillery.

Four Pillars distillery.

But the cherry on top is Australia taking out the International Gin Producer of the Year awards, with Yarra Valley-based distillery Four Pillars nabbing bragging rights for the second consecutive year.

“Producer trophies are the pinnacle of achievement,” says IWSC Head of Tastings, Pip Mortimer. “They reward the overall portfolio, ethos and achievement of companies that enter the IWSC”.

Considering the IWSC is the world’s longest-running, largest and most prestigious spirits competition with more than 4000 entries from distilleries across the globe – this win is a big deal.

Before and after the win.

In 2019, Four Pillars was the first Australian distillery to win any International Producer of the Year title and going back-to-back cements its position at the very top of the world of gin producers, both large and small.

But considering the absolute wreck of a year 2020 has been, co-founder and Distiller, Cameron Mackenzie, was shooketh at the news.

“After the year we’ve had and the exhaustion we have felt, I couldn’t quite believe it when they called out our name. I was wearing my full kilt for good luck, same as I did last year in London, and I don’t think I will take it off all day, maybe all week,” he says.

See Also
We Asked A Chief Winemaker To Answer The Myths About Organic Wine

“This is a victory for every single person in the Four Pillars world but most particularly for everyone at Healesville who has faced so much uncertainty and difficulty this year but has never stopped putting in the hard yards”.

The Four Pillars range of gins.

Aforementioned Kangaroo Island Spirits also made the finalist list in the International Gin Producer of the Year category, as well as Herno from Sweden, and the Zamora Company, owner of Martin Miller’s.

Four Pillars continues to go from strength to strength, recently launching into the UK and securing a partnership with Marks & Spencer. They’ve also released the much-lauded Olive Leaf Gin, continued to grow the Bloody Shiraz and Rare Dry gins availability across the world. Not to mention the world-class Laboratory which opened in Sydney’s Surry Hills this year.

(All Images: Provided / Four Pillars)

Scroll To Top