Style & Law

There's no legally protected style name for Victoria, unlike Genever for the Netherlands or Plymouth Gin for the English port city. What has emerged here goes by the informal name Contemporary Gin or Modern Australian Gin. It's not a legal term but a description that has taken hold within the industry. It emphasizes plenty of juniper, but places at least as much weight on native botanicals found in no European gin.

Legally, though, EU Spirit Drinks Regulation (EU) 2019/787 applies as soon as a bottle ships from Healesville or Melbourne to Europe. It requires a minimum of 37.5% ABV for "gin." Anyone wanting to label a bottle "London Gin" may afterward add only water. No additional flavorings or more than 0.1 grams of sugar per liter are permitted.

That's why Four Pillars deliberately avoids calling its Rare Dry Gin "London Dry." Yet the method, all botanicals in one distillation, no additions afterward, comes close to that definition. The distillery prefers to emphasize the Australian origin of the recipe over a European category. In the US, exports fall under the separate rule in 27 CFR 5, which requires a minimum of 40% ABV for "gin." Most Victoria gins exceed that anyway.

The Bloody Shiraz Gin falls legally under the same base category as the Rare Dry Gin. The grape maceration happens after the actual distillation and doesn't create a new spirit type, only adds color and fruit character. There's no separately protected name for this method. "Bloody Shiraz" is a Four Pillars brand, not a legal term for the category.