Over the past four or five years, the team at Four Pillars have fallen in love with a new kind of citrus: yuzu.
After several experiments with Japanese friends over the years, Four Pillars have added a new member to the family: the bright and aromatic Fresh Yuzu Gin.
Native to China, Tibet and Japan, yuzu is a citrus fruit with aromatics that are a mix of lemon, mandarin, cumquat and grapefruit.
Four Pillars first dabbled with yuzu, making Pure Kisumé Gin with their friends at Melbourne’s Kisumé restaurant in 2017, and again making our Distiller Series Changing Seasons Gin with the Kyoto Distillery in 2019.
A visit to Kyoto in 2019 cemented Four Pillars’ love and appreciation for yuzu in gin, after a long conversation and tasting with Alex Davies at The Kyoto Distillery.
And then fate played its part as in early 2020; what should literally land on our doorstep but some fresh, perfect yuzu grown just up the road in the Ovens Valley by the good folk at Mountain Yuzu, specialty growers of cool climate citrus.
Later in 2020, they released their first Yuzu Gin under the guise of the limited batch Rarer Dry Gin. It was a hit and a keeper. Son they have created the stand-alone Fresh Yuzu Gin to the core core range at Four Pillars, because as it turns out, our gin loving friends have taken as much of a liking to this unique citrus fruit as we have.
our Pillars Co-founder and Distiller Cam Mackenzie says: “Yuzu brings amazing aromatics that are a mix of lemon, mandarin, cumquat and grapefruit – all bright and fresh citrus notes – while the addition of finger lime adds some deeper citrus character.”
“We’ve also learnt a lot (from the best) in our adventures making gin with Japanese friends, so in our take on Yuzu gin, we’ve used ginger, turmeric and sencha genmaicha, a Japanese green tea with roasted brown rice, for depth of flavour. A canvas of strong pine-needle juniper and a bit of lemon myrtle add a touch of lemon curd.”
Drink it however you like to drink your favourite gin, but for us it’s at its best in a Highball with plenty of ice, soda or light tonic and any kind of citrus garnish (best of all would be fresh yuzu, if you can find it).
RRP $A80.00. 41.8% ABV.
