There are gins that wear their heritage on their sleeve — the ancestral estates, the copper pot stills passed down through generations, the botanicals foraged from the same hedgerow since 1847. And then there are gins like Renegade, which arrive with a raised eyebrow and a refusal to play by those rules.
Produced under the Doghouse banner, Renegade Gin positions itself as an outsider in a category that increasingly rewards conformity. The name alone tells you something about intent. This is a London Dry — which means it adheres to the strictest production standards in the gin world: no artificial flavourings, no added colour, juniper-forward by definition — yet it carries itself with the swagger of something far less conventional.
A London Dry With Attitude
At 42% ABV, Renegade sits comfortably in that sweet spot where the spirit has enough backbone to carry its botanicals without overpowering them. It is a gin that wants to be taken seriously but refuses to be solemn about it. The Doghouse team have built something that respects the London Dry tradition while clearly pushing at its edges — a balancing act that not every producer manages with grace.
I would place Renegade at 7.3 out of 10. It is a well-constructed spirit that delivers on its rebellious promise without sacrificing the structural integrity that makes London Dry the benchmark style. It does not quite reach the heights of the category's finest, but it earns its place on any shelf that values character over convention.
Best served long with a quality Indian tonic water and a generous twist of grapefruit peel — ideally on a Friday evening when the weekend stretches out ahead of you and the rules feel pleasantly optional.
