Four Pillars Gin

Four Pillars didn’t become one of Australia’s most popular gins by chance. Matt Jones and his co-founders built their business on a foundation of focus and strategy, turning every detail into an opportunity to unlock the brand’s full potential. The results? They speak for themselves. We had a fascinating conversation about his early career in politics and brand strategy before venturing into the gin business, how he made Four Pillars stand out in a fiercely competitive market, the essence of building a great brand, how they got it so right at Four Pillars, his new book, and what’s next on the horizon. Don’t miss this one if you’re looking to leverage your brand to its fullest potential. Listen Now on Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/e4SJb8rN Listen Now on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/egvrv2Un

How we got back to Christmas so quickly we'll never know. But surprise, here we are! And to avoid any of the inevitable last-minute gifting panic, we've made it super simple to get your corporate gifting sorted (ahead of time!) this Christmas. Whether you've got clients to impress, a team to reward, or need to organise a cracking end-of-year gift for the whole business, head over to fpgin.co/corporate-gifting and gift gin this Christmas. They will thank you, and we will thank you.

I wrote a book. In the middle of all last week’s excitement (and mixed emotions) about Cameron Mackenzie OLY passing on the proverbial gin baton, I was in a recording studio in North Sydney finishing the audio version of the book I have been working on since late 2023. It’s called Lessons From Gin, and this milestone moment in the ongoing history of Four Pillars Gin seems like the perfect moment to formally announce its existence. Published by the business book experts at Wiley, it’s scheduled to be released at the end of October, just in time for Christmas gifting and summer reading (if anyone actually wants to enjoy their summer holidays and perfect Four Pillars G&Ts accompanied by me reflecting on business growth and brand strategy). The book is not a memoir, and it’s certainly not the definitive story of Four Pillars Gin (if anyone writes that one day it should be Stuart Gregor). Instead this book is an attempt to do two things. First, it’s my take on the decisions we made that helped grow Four Pillars into the world’s leading craft gin business in less than a decade. As the person who contributed nothing (literally) to making the gin taste as good as it does (that was all down to Cam and Stu) I think my perspective might be the most relatable to others who also don’t have any gin-making talent, but who do have an extraordinary product and business they want to put on display and make sure it gets the credit (and growth) it deserves. Second, it’s my translation of some of those lessons from gin (hence the title) into useful, actionable models and principles that could be applied to any business, organisation or even personal brand. The book is full of what I've called 'useful bits' where I break out some of the theory behind the gin-soaked brilliance of Four Pillars Gin. The book breaks down the Four Pillars journey into four key sections…thinking, crafting, sharing and growing…and I plan to explore each of these four themes over a few LinkedIn posts and articles in the weeks to come. Oh, and to make the book a triple threat, I’ve ended each of those four sections with a drinks break full of classic and creative gin recipes from the Four Pillars archives. And again, while I can personally vouch for the deliciousness of every drink in the book, I take no credit for the recipes…they were all perfected by folks far more tasteful than me! I’ll put the Amazon pre-order link into the comments. But if you want a bulk order for your business drop me a message and I’ll make sure you’re well looked after.

You probably know this already, but Cameron Mackenzie OLY used to be a good 400m runner. So good that he competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics representing Australia on the 4 x 400m team. And as all relay runners know, there always comes a time to pass on the baton. In Cam's words to our team, "Today I announce my departure from Four Pillars - it is time to step away. As you would have noticed over the last 12 months, I have made myself beautifully obsolete! I know I look busy as I prance around the distillery holding a manila folder, but the reality is that the folder is empty and I only come in for the free coffee and to bother you all. It's from the George Costanza play book." With that, we are thrilled to announce Sarah Prowse will lead our world-class distilling team in Healesville. Prowsey is as good as they get. She joined us as a distiller in 2020 following a 15-year career in winemaking and, alongside Cam, was installed into the prestigious Gin Guild last year – the world's oldest community of gin-makers and leaders, established in London in 1638. She's been in charge of production for the past couple of years so the gins really couldn't be in better hands. Today is an announcement of mixed emotions. On one hand, it feels like Cam's hanging up his lucky apron, but on the other hand it's a tribute to what he has built over 11 years: an Australian gin legacy that will continue to be bigger than any one person. And, as Cam always says, our best gins are still ahead of us. Cam has also always reminded us that there's no such thing as a former Olympian, you're one for life. The same is true for founders. And besides, Cam still lives 150m from the distillery and hasn't bought a coffee in over 10 years so we're certain it's not goodbye!

Looking forward to chatting with Ryan Kelly and his Creative Natives community about what a decade of Four Pillars Gin has taught me about managing (and owning) a brand. In particular, I'm looking forward to focusing on the importance of in-house teams taking more ownership of brand strategy. And on the importance of brand being seen as a whole-of-business responsibility, touching on everything from product development and innovation to culture and customer experience. Link to the webinar is in the comments! #fourpillarsgin #brandstrategy #leadership

Four Pillars is nominated for the 2024 IWSC INTERNATIONAL GIN PRODUCER OF THE YEAR - for a record fifth time! Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine taking this trophy home once, let alone three times - in 2019, 2020, and again in 2023. To be back on the shortlist for the world's most prestigious spirits show, in the competition's biggest category, shows the passion of our crew in Healesville. They continue to make the best gins they can, and it goes to show the quality and style of our gins are continuously world-class and getting better every year. Surely we can't win this again. But we’ll be up early on 13 November to watch the awards live from London and pop champers regardless of the results. Big congrats to our fellow gin producers on the shortlist - our long-time friends Hernö Gin from Sweden, Alembic Distillery from Japan, ELG Spirits from Denmark and Poetica Distillery from Croatia.

Introducing 2024 Bloody Pinot Noir Gin! Over the years, Cameron Mackenzie OLY and the distilling team have blown us away time and again with the flavours they’re able to pack into new gins. But few moments will ever compare to that first taste of Bloody Shiraz Gin back in 2015. Cam brought a couple of trial bottles up to Sydney to share with Stu and Matt and the rest was gin history.    The idea of soaking fresh wine grapes in Rare Dry Gin for eight weeks before pressing the grapes and bottling the naturally sweet, stunningly colourful result was something entirely new for us. And for years Bloody Shiraz caused website crashes and panic buying in bottle shops around the country as people were determined to miss out on another limited vintage release.    Today, of course, things are a bit different. We crushed more Shiraz fruit than almost anyone else in the Yarra Valley to ensure thirsty gin lovers around Australia and around the world don’t miss out on their favourite bloody gin.    But for those of us who miss the days of scarcity and gin FOMO, luckily Cam and the team had a new trick up their sleeves. Bloody Pinot Noir Gin. We made a small batch last year (with all the grapes we could afford… that Pinot fruit is fancy) and it sold out in a heartbeat. In fact it never even made it to general release as our thirsty email subscribers grabbed the whole lot.    This year, thank goodness, we’ve made some again. And, with luck, there might be enough to go around (early access opens today over at https://lnkd.in/gbn32sHM). It’s a tribute to our home, our place, at the heart of wine country. And it’s a reflection of our love of flavour, of experimentation, and of the constant delight in doing small things, even as our brand continues to grow around the world.

Every day, the copper pipes that line the bar in our Healesville Distillery bring fresh gin straight from the tanks in our Stillhouse to the bar taps. That means our finest output, courtesy of Jude, Wilma and Beth (the names of our gin stills), is served fresher at our distillery than anywhere in the world. Plus, by piping our gin straight from the source, we’re saving hundreds of bottles a week in glass waste. Serving up delicious gin in a way that treads a little lighter on the planet? That's a win win.

Awesome news out of the UK this week with seven of our gins winning a medal at the Spirits Business Gin Masters competition! Seeing our gins on the world stage never gets old for us. Over ten years in the gin game, there have been a lot of changes and a lot of new players too. There were more than 300 entries from over 135 entrants in this year’s competition alone, so a huge achievement for our distilling team on such an incredible haul. Read all about it here: https://lnkd.in/gy7DnK6j

Rare Dry Gin is flying high! And by high we mean all the way up in the air with our friends Qantas. Our friendship with The Flying Kangaroo goes way back to 2015 when we made Modern Australian Gin as an exclusive collaboration with Qantas. And in 2021 we were honoured to make QF100 Gin to help them celebrate their 100th birthday. Fast forward to today, and the gin that started it all, the ultimate expression of Australia’s unique and diverse flavour culture, Rare Dry Gin can now be enjoyed whenever you’re flying international First, Business or Premium Economy. Least to say, we're bloody chuffed. So, whether you're heading somewhere fabulous or heading home to the greatest place on earth, you can now enjoy the best at 38,000ft. Cheers friends!