Iconic Australian brand sold

An iconic Australian gin distillery has been bought out by an international beverage giant for tens of millions of dollars.

Four Pillars gin has been snatched up by Lion Group, a subsidiary of Japanese alcohol giant Kirin, who took full ownership of the company on Tuesday.

Lion purchased the remaining 50 per cent that it did not own in the company for a reported $50 million after spending $40 million for half of the business in 2019.

Four Pillars founders Stuart Gregor, Cameron McKenzie and Matt Jones framed the move as an “opportunity to take our business to the next level, yet again”.

“Lion has been a wonderful, supportive partner since March 2019; they backed us at every step through Covid, helped us fund our incredible new distillery and allowed us to grow, create and experiment in gin as much as we liked,” they said.

“This is a great day for our investors (many of whom are staff and old mates) who supported us when we were nothing more than a pipe dream.

“It is also a day where we need to reinforce what we have done and what we will continue to do: make the world’s best gin at the world’s most sustainable distillery while having a whole load of fun.”

Four Pillars was created in 2013 on the outskirts of Melbourne, beginning as “a dream to make the best gin we could from the back of a mate’s winery”.

The trio said that “very little” would change in the “short term”, but were silent on whether the change in ownership would create differences in the future.

“We very much hope you will judge us, and our new owners, by our collective actions,” they said.

They also announced that Mr Gregor would leave the enterprise after September while Mr McKenzie and Mr Jones stay on.

But not everyone was so positive about the change in hands, with some fans upset about the Australian business now falling under overseas ownership.

“Congrats for starting from nothing and turning it into such an awesome Business. But very sad to see another great Australian company being bought out by an overseas conglomerate,” one person said after the announcement.

“I have mixed feelings. I prefer to support the small gin distilleries. I wish you all the best,” another said.