Acclaimed local bartender Nick Tesar will join Four Pillars as Creative Director of Gin Drinks this June, taking over from James Irvine.
Tesar has helmed Melbourne’s Bar Liberty as bar manager for more than six years and picked up a number of awards over the years including being named as Diageo’s World Class Australian Bartender of the Year in 2022 and the global runner-up.
The bar talent is also behind Marionette, a liqueur company that produces curacao, brandy, amaretto, and more.
“This is a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he says. “There has only ever been one person in this role and Jimmy might be a pretty hard act to follow. But someone has to follow him and it might as well be me!
“Seriously, though, I have watched the Four Pillars story from the beginning … so this is some sort of full-circle [moment] and really bloody exciting.”
Come 5 June, Tesar will be an ambassador of the Four Pillars brand locally and globally and head up the drinks offering for the distillery in Healesville as well as the Sydney lab and bar alongside the respective teams.
Tesar will also lead all drink research and development.
“There were more than a few other outstanding people we considered, but everyone who knows him, has worked with him, or had one of his drinks knows Nick is truly a cut above,” says Four Pillars Co-Founder Stu Gregor.
“We think he is one of the real modern drinks masters of Australia and probably the world. We are genuinely thrilled he is joining the team.”