This gin is Cam’s tribute to four things he loves: Australia, Christmas, gin and his late mum, Wilma.
Each year Wilma would use the 1968 Australian Women’s Weekly recipe to make her puds on Victoria Derby Day, while the rest of the family listened to the races. To this day, one of Cam’s great childhood memories is how his house would smell like Christmas over Cup Weekend.
“I found the recipe and thought it would be fun to start doing it with my girls every year. But even as I was buying all the ingredients at the shops (mixed peel, oranges, dried fruit) I just kept thinking how well it would all distill. And with juniper having such a great pine needle character to begin with, a Christmas gin just started to make sense really quickly.” – Cameron Mackenzie
So now each year the Four Pillars family gathers in Healesville to make puddings to this recipe. Cam then distills them, and ages the resulting gin in Rutherglen Muscat barrels for a year. To finish, we add a slight tweak of Rutherglen Classic Muscat to round out the palate with a touch of richness.
With juniper-led Christmas tree notes and plum pudding character it smells like gin and tastes like Christmas, and we release it each year on Derby Day.
INGREDIENTS
- 50mL Australian Christmas Gin
- 30mL fresh ruby grapefruit juice
- 15mL sugar syrup [1:1]
- 1 inch cube fresh pineapple
- Soda water
- Cherry
METHOD
- Place pineapple in shaker, add sugar syrup and muddle together
- Add remaining ingredients, except soda water, and shake vigorously
- Pour into a Collins glass and top with soda water
- Garnish with a cherry and wedge of pineapple
INGREDIENTS
- 50mL Australian Christmas Gin
- 15mL fresh lemon juice
- 15mL fresh lime juice
- 15mL honey water [1:1]
- 1/2 kiwi fruit, skin removed
- Dash of egg white
- Pinch of salt
- Lime
METHOD
- Place kiwi fruit in shaker, add honey water and muddle together
- Add remaining ingredients, shake and strain into a rock glass over ice
- Garnish with lime zest
