Four Pillars Australian Christmas Gin is back for its fifth festive season, celebrating four things distiller Cam McKenzie loves: Australia, Christmas, gin and his
late mum, Wilma.

Each year Wilma would use the 1968 Australian Women’s Weekly recipe to make her
puddings on Victoria Derby Day, the Saturday before Melbourne Cup, while the rest of the family watched the races.

On Derby Day 2015, and again on every Derby Day from then on, Cam and his family, joined by the families of fellow co-founders Stu Gregor and Matt Jones, would make puddings to Wilma’s recipe and put them in the botanical basket of Wilma (the Four Pillars still) and distill a gin.

While this year, the Mackenzies, Gregors and Joneses couldn’t physically be together for the now annual tradition, the spirit of Wilma’s pudding making transcends closed borders and the Christmas gin prep continued with the help of a little friend called Zoom.

Once the Christmas pudding gin is distilled, Four Pillars turns to its solera of barrel aged gins.

“We have gin ageing in several 100+ year old Muscat barrels, including two 125-year-old ex- William Grants whisky barrels that, prior to arriving at Healesville, stored Rutherglen Muscat for 80 years,” the distiller noted.

“We take the gin distilled with Christmas puddings and blend it with the barrel
aged gin, finishing it with a nip of Classic Rutherglen Muscat to round out the palate and add a touch of richness.

“We also add a small amount of our “own” Muscat that is maturing at the distillery in old puncheons that used to hold aged Pedro Ximenez in the Barossa Valley. This extra component adds an additional layer of complexity and richness.”

Four Pillars Australian Christmas Gin is 43.8% ABV and has an RRP of $100. The limited release available online at fourpillarsgin.com, at our homes in Healesville and Surry
Hills and in good liquor retailers from October 31, 2020 until sold out.

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