Four Pillars Gin Bloody Shiraz 750ml

2236051*  

$78.69 $75.49 price per bottle Expert Advice

Our home is in the Yarra Valley, where our neighbours make some of the finest wines in the world. So in 2015 we combined our Rare Dry Gin with some of the best Shiraz grapes in Australia to create our Bloody Shiraz Gin for the first time. And now each year we steep Yarra Valley Shiraz grapes in gin, de-stemming the fruit but keeping them mainly as whole berries. The tanks are kept cold and stirred daily. After eight weeks we press the fruit before blending with more Rare Dry Gin. The beauty of Bloody Shiraz Gin being a product of vintage means that it will never be the same. Our 2017 release has an incredibly vibrant ruby colour, which turns iridescent pink when mixed with tonic or soda. Aromatically the gin has fresh pine needles and incredible spice, and a clear peppery, dense raspberry character. The palate is lovely and sweet, with long juniper and spice characters to finish. This release is slightly lighter in colour than last year’s, due to a cool vintage in the Yarra Valley with a moderate ripening period. Unlike Sloe Gin, the alcohol is 37. 8% (rather than <30%). So it packs a punch and is ideal in a range of cocktails. The gin is unfiltered, so it will develop secondary fruit characters beyond two years, and is best consumed within two years of vintage. Producer We established Four Pillars with a focus on gin. But great gin doesn’t just make itself. We recognised that our real focus would need to be on the craft of distilling. If we could elevate this area of expertise in Australia, and bring a modern Australian sensibility to the process, then maybe we could make a gin worth shouting about. Two years later we have five different gins, multiple gold medals at international spirits competitions and now a brand new distillery operation and tasting bar. But the story starts back in 2013 we embarked on a tour of the US West Coast, from Portland down to San Francisco, identifying distilling techniques and equipment we admired. What stood out above all to us was that all the gins we loved on our trip were made in a Carl still. 18 months later, we took delivery of our own custom-built still from Carl of Germany, and we called her Wilma (after Cameron’s beautiful but explosively tempered late mother). And Wilma turned out to be amazing, drawing extraordinary botanical flavour from a combination of rare, native and traditional botanicals. She delivers an unbelievable purity of spirit (the gin comes out of Wilma at 93. 5% ABV) despite our unique approach of distilling our benchmark Rare Dry Gin with fresh, juicy biodynamic and highly-aromatic oranges. And she has now been joined by her larger sister Jude, and significantly smaller sister Eileen - both also made by Carl. From Rare Dry Gin to Barrel Aged Gin to Navy Strength Gin to Orange Marmalade (made with the oranges that make the gin) everything we do is designed to elevate the craft of distilling in Australia. We hope you agree we’re on the right path. The judges at a number of prestigious international competitions must think so, as we’ve been awarded a Double Gold, Gold or Master status for all our mainstay gins in the past two years.