Distiller's Masterclass & Tasting with Four Pillars Gin at Lonely Planet

The 12th edition of Lonely Planet's Best in Travel book has just been released and the team at Lonely Planet has named Micro-distilleries as one of the top travel trends for 2017.

Located in nearby Healesville, Four Pillars Gin has the honour of being the only Australian distillery on the the must-visit Micro-distilleries list, and Gastrology attended an intimate masterclass with the Four Pillars founder and distiller, Cameron Mackenzie at the new Melbourne Lonely Planet headquarters. 

Four Pillars Gin was launched three years ago and focuses on the concept of modern Australian gin, but is also inspired by the founders' trips to North America. At Four Pillars, the team uses locally and internationally sourced botanicals to produce worldwide award winning gins. We tasted four different varieties of gin at the masterclass - the rare dry gin, navy strength gin, spiced Negroni gin, and the special release Australian Christmas gin. All the gins were exceptional, but our favourite of the night was the special release Australian Christmas gin which had notes of currants, raisins, nutmeg and was reminiscent of traditional Christmas puddings. The gin is even stored in barrels that formerly contained muscat grapes to deepen the wonderful flavour profile. 

With the explosion of micro distilleries globally, the Four Pillars Gin distillery door is a must-visit venue with the interactive visitor experience as the operational stills can be seen through windows at the bar. Four Pillars also presents informative masterclasses on specific weekends where Cam will guide you on how Four Pillars make the award - winning gin, and also enjoy tastings of their signature gin.  The team at Four Pillars are also involved in collaborations with other international distillers to learn different distilling technique so there is always something new and innovative around the corner! 

Written by Helena Lea.