Australia is currently having a love affair with gin. After years of being written off as ‘liquid depression’ by much of the population, gin has dramatically risen in popularity Down Under – and the quality and quantity of Australian gin distillers have also skyrocketed.
In a move that’s equal parts irresponsible and genius, one Australian distillery has come up with a simple but diabolical way to help fuel Australia’s burgeoning gin addiction: having gin on tap.
Four Pillars, one of Australia’s most awarded gin distilleries, has just unveiled a major update of their Healesville distillery’s bar, which rather than boasting a frosty row of beer taps, has a huge array of copper pipes piping gin directly into the main bar. Indeed, instead of beer taps, they’ve got tonic in kegs tapped into the bar. Madness.
While this sounds like a recipe for alcoholism, Four Pillars have done this for a good reason. Piping gin directly into the bar and serving tonic from kegs will reportedly save the distillery a whopping 29 tonnes of glass a year. The copper pipes that snake around the space also look cool as hell.
Sustainability has always been a focus for the highly-awarded distillery, which earlier this month became the first gin distillery in Australia to be certified as carbon neutral.
Actually, calling Four Pillars’ new space just a bar is underselling it a bit. Wineries have ‘cellar doors’ and this is effectively a distillery door; an all-encompassing gin and hospitality experience that Four Pillars hopes will set “a new benchmark for craft gin distilleries worldwide.”
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The update to the Healesville site, dubbed Healesville 2.0, features an al fresco ‘gin garden’, multiple event areas, a dedicated Four Pillars gin shop and of course, that copper-clad main bar.
It’s a really beautiful space, and at just over an hour’s drive from Melbourne in the picturesque Yarra Valley, Four Pillar’s Healesville 2.0 might just be one of the best day trip prospects in the country. (As long as you have a designated driver, of course.)
As beautiful as it might be, we’re not going to lie: we just want to try out the novelty of gin on tap. Call it the quickest Negroni on the planet?
You can find Four Pillars’ Healesville distillery here. If you’re from The Harbour City, you need not fret: Four Pillar’s Sydney Laboratory and its accompanying bar, Eileen’s Bar, have long been loved as one of the best date night spots in the country, too.
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Speaking of date nights, check out our story about how a date night gone wrong led to an unexpected fine dining revelation for one of our writers (I don’t know why I’m being coy, it was me…)
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