Doghouse Distillery Renegade Gin (70cl), Award-Winning Battersea London Gin 42% ABV, a contemporary, refreshingly herby Botanical Gin

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When it burst onto the scene in late 2017, Renegade Gin had our attention instantly. A grain to glass gin made in central London seemed if not impossible, highly unlikely, so we hot footed it down to the distillery to see what was going on. We were astonished by the level of craft co-founder Braden Saunders was working towards, and we’ve been trailing his journey ever since. In the early days of Citadelle, Gabriel recalls a group of students proposing to do a business case on the brand. Naturally, Gabriel accepted, hoping their acumen would provide some insight. Their analysis? “There is no way this can work,” Gabriel says, laughing at his own expense. “This kept happening. I remember our importer in America looking at me like I must have gone mad. A French gin?! This decision was made purely out of passion and it was almost disastrous to our business. I have made many mistakes and I hope I am going to make less,” he says. “It looked like Citadelle wouldn’t work because it was out of time and it was financially painful. But, in the end, the two wrongs became a right. Now there is a new gin every week, right!?”

The LIVE virtual tastings are carried out in the last week of the month. Please keep an eye on our socials for confirmed dates! Actually it was from enjoying micro brewed beer and learning the brewing process. I started to wonder how hard spirits would be to make… and the rest is history! As a distiller, what are you most proud about having done at Doghouse so far? It is the only “grain to glass” gin produced in London and one of a handful in the whole of the UK. They are not fans of following the traditional route in distilling (or life), and Renegade is contemporary on all levels.

Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky

Yes, we were over the moon with winning it as we never win anything! Expect to see a new and exciting Renegade bottle after the Summer. What else is on the horizon for the year ahead in 2019? Given that he runs his own Cognac , rum and gin brands, you might think it’s hard to pin down Alexandre Gabriel. But, in my experience, the restless innovator is always happy to make time to chat about booze. Before I ask a question, he informs me he’s just spent the morning planting juniper trees at the Bonbonnet Estate and that he hopes the juniper and lemon supply for Citadelle Gin will be totally self-sustainable within five years. He’s been planting juniper berries since September 2017, inspired by the fact that the south west of France was known for its juniper berries during medieval times. He then explains that as someone one grew up on a farm he’s attached to the idea of growing what he needs, organically, of course. He already grows his own grapes for his Cognac. The Brands of Doghouse; Renegade Gin and Baller Vodka are true artisanal spirits that showcase very distinctive characters in texture and taste. Aptly named for the attitude and spunk that is evident in their profiles, both are best case scenarios of how a complete disregard for convention leads on to deliver incomparable brilliance. Overall: A complex, intriguing and well-integrated gin that does a particularly good job of balancing floral and spicy notes. The new cans are both innovative and fun, solving the problem and reflecting the quirky personality of our brand. Just don’t tell our marketing team I said that!”

So to England from Australia via America Saunders journeyed, heading to London not just because it is the land of gin, but because he’s felt the magnetic pull of the city ever since he pulled a five-year stint in the early Noughties. Plus, he adds, “it’s the best city in the world, right?” Explaining his venture into gin production, Saunders said: “I ran a pub with my wife in Australia that specialised in micro-brewed craft beer. I learnt to brew when we made colab beers with local breweries and really enjoyed the manufacturing process. It wasn’t enough to just have good beer, though, so I started working on building an amazing selection of great boutique wines and also spirits. So how to use Citadelle Gin? Gabriel has a few thoughts: “I love a G&T and with Citadelle it’s incredible, but my little sin is actually a Gin Reserve with just a glassful of dry Curaçao,” he says. “Not the blue stuff, we make an original curacao made with real orange. I also love a gin martini with a great vermouth like Dolin and of course I love a French 75”. My advice would be to explore and experiment. It’s what Alexandre Gabriel would do. We’re seeing a rise in demand from many of our customers looking for premium drinks to-go, and our new cans are the perfect solution for them. They’re light, widely recycled and can be sold in many venues where glass bottles aren’t allowed. Jawbox Gin is set to unveil the world’s largest bottle of gin – equivalent to almost 46 standard bottles of gin – as the hospitality industry reopens for business.That grainy base is there, albeit in a very clean, almost tropical form. There’s a huge, green leafiness to the gin overall, with hints of sage and something ever so slightly mentholic tugging at the nostrils. Gabriel’s desire to explore and test the limits of gin led to the creation of the limited edition Extreme Collection. The first was Citadelle No Mistake Old Tom Gin , made with caramelised Caribbean brown sugar that was aged in the barrel with its cask-aged Citadelle Réserve. Wild Blossom followed, a gin inspired by his mother’s love of herbal infusions that was distilled wild cherry blossom petals and aged in cherrywood casks for five months. “They keep me sane. Take ‘Saisons of the Witch’, which I made by roasting my juniper berries and distilled it with the other botanicals to create a slightly smoky, roasted pepper gin. We sell it only on the estate and we made a few hundred bottles, but I love it,” Gabriel says. “Right now I can tease that we’ve got a new aged gin expression on the way and, also some breaking news, we have a gin maturing in 100-litre vats made from juniper berry tree. All this crazy stuff that I’m having fun with is all part of that new frontier of gin! Then 2021 will be the 25th anniversary of the launching of Citadelle, so the 25th anniversary will come with some surprises as well”. We cast our MoM-branded spotlight on Citadelle Gin , an expression created at a Cognac house, that predates the craft gin boom. Its founder Alexandre Gabriel explains why he created a gin in the first place, the 18th-century recipe he based it on and his patented brand of gin distillation.