In a former timber yard on a corner of the Maroondah Highway, Four Pillars gin has found a new home for their German sister-stills Wilma and Jude with the fully functioning distillery operation set to open October 31.
Kicking off with a weekend packed with masterclasses, tours and gin drinks, the new Yarra Valley distillery is just over an hour drive from the Melbourne CBD.
The over 700 square metre space is not only the new home of the award-winning gin brand, it is a hospitality space showcasing the many facets of gin. The Distillery Door is open to the public, with all five Four Pillars Gins for tasting and sale, a long copper bar serving paddles of G&T three ways, and the opportunity for visitors to build their own Negronis, all served along side “really good nuts and olives”, marmalade on toast, coffee, beer and wine (the latter two if people “ask real nice”).
According to a statement by the brand the new facility also has a state-of-the art Hoshizaki ice machine, “great glassware” and the team are “slowly building up our quite unrefined but enthusiastic cocktail making skills”. So punters are being told to “expect some more gin cocktails and flash new shaking to be added to our repertoire over the summer and beyond”.
Out the back is where the magic happens, with Wilma (the 450L Carl still) and her sister Jude (the 600L still), will soon be joined by their new baby sibling Eileen (weighing in at a teeny 50L) who will arrive early 2016.
The latter additions to the company still collection means that Four Pillars will have the capacity and flexibility to be more creative with its output, not only producing the Rare Dry, Barrel Aged, Spiced Negroni and Navy Strength gins but also a host of other “experimental and occasionally random gins; Bloody Shiraz Gin anyone?”
Managed by Scott Gauld, the Distillery Door will be open Thursday–Monday, 10.30am-5.30pm. There is seating both inside and out, as well as regular tours and masterclasses run by our distiller Cameron Mackenzie.