‘Just can’t happen’: Four Pillars founders on why Lion won’t change its gin
By Jessica Yun
The phones of craft gin distillery Four Pillars’ three founders haven’t stopped buzzing since the news on Tuesday morning that the business had been fully acquired by Japanese-owned beverages giant Lion.
“Today, I’ve received more than 40 messages from distilleries around Australia, and a couple from around the world, congratulating us on this deal,” said co-founder Cameron Mackenzie.
“Yesterday, talking to our team, which is now over 150, I’ve never been hugged so much in my life.” he said. “But it was amazing to see everyone just so incredibly supportive and incredibly proud of what we’ve done locally.”
Four Pillars’ founders are confident the product and the brand won’t change after selling to Lion.
Lion – the company behind Tooheys, XXXX, James Squire, Little Creatures and Hahn – already owned 50 per cent of Four Pillars. Over the weekend, Lion purchased the remaining half of the business for about $50 million, according to industry sources. Lion will take ownership of the craft gin business, including the distillery in Victoria’s Healesville and more than 150 employees.
The sale will enable the award-winning Four Pillars, which founders Cameron Mackenzie, Stuart Gregor and Matt Jones started in “the back of a shed in Warrandyte South” nearly 10 years ago, to leverage Lion’s global distribution network and push more deeply into export markets, amplifying sales volumes.
“I think the opportunity now is to really take Four Pillars to the world,” said Mackenzie. “The decisions we’ve made have all been based on growth and opportunity and trying to keep things moving, take an Australian spirit to the world.”
‘I think the opportunity now is to really take Four Pillars to the world.’
Cameron Mackenzie, Four Pillars co-founder
Though Lion officially owns the entire business, the founders make it clear that the new management won’t tamper with or change the beloved product.
“I’m not even sure I gave [Lion] the password to that file. So, no, it just can’t happen,” said Mackenzie. “The reputation of the business speaks for itself.”
He points out that Four Pillars was named the world’s best gin producer two years in a row in 2019 and 2020, and has been shortlisted this year.
“Why would they f--- around with it?” said Gregor.
“Our reputation has always exceeded our distribution,” Mackenzie said.
While Mackenzie and Jones will stay on in their current roles as chief distiller and brand and strategy director respectively, Gregor will leave the business at the beginning of September to take an extended sabbatical.
Left to right: Four Pillars founders Matt Jones, Stuart Gregor, and Cameron Mackenzie.Credit: SEE CAPTION INFO
And what would the founders say to those who lament yet another independent Australian craft distillery or brewery that has been gobbled up by a multinational conglomerate? (Lion is owned by Japanese beverages company Kirin, which is part of the Mitsubishi Group.)
“The [fact of the matter] is: we still support huge numbers of Australian staff and we pay an enormous amount of excise tax directly to the Australian government,” said Gregor, who estimates that 95 per cent of Four Pillars’ tax goes towards the excise.
“Don’t for a minute think that all the supposed money that Four Pillars is making is going anywhere other than to the coffers of Australia.
“I say to people if you want to support small, independent Australian gins, then go for it,” he said. “We, I think have played an enormous role in helping so many nascent up-and-coming Australian distillers to be bold enough to set up their own businesses.”
Over the next few months, the founders will work with Lion’s vast distribution network to place Four Pillars gin in strategic travel retail locations including airports, cruises and border shops.
“We’ve already had an order in New Zealand that’s more than any gin we’ve sold to New Zealand in the past eight years since we’ve been in [that] market,” said Gregor.
You can bet that the team will be clinking a few glasses tonight to the deal.
“I’m ready for a drink to be honest, and a bit of a celebration,” Gregor said. “It’s a really proud day for us.”
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