FIRST JOURNEYS - 80 GINS AROUND THE WORLD - PIN 32 OF 80
SCAPEGRACE GIN, New Zealand
AROUND THE WORLD, ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME,
PHILEAS FOGG WOULD SURELY APPROVE
We are sticking around the Southern Alps of New Zealand today. This mountain range is actually quite important, as it runs the length of the South Island and acts as a barrier, forcing the prevailing winds coming from the west upwards and causing rainfall. That rain filters down through the soil, gravel and rock, gathering in natural aquifers.
Groundwater is hugely important to New Zealand, with around 40% of the country's drinking water coming from groundwater.
So, naturally, it makes rather good gin water!
When I bought this bottle, Rogue Society Distilling Co. was based in Canterbury, in the foothills of the Southern Alps, and used pure groundwater sourced from a Canterbury aquifer to distil and cut its spirits.
Things have moved on since then.
Scapegrace now has a rather spectacular new distillery in Central Otago, overlooking Lake Dunstan and Mt Pisa. The $30 million distillery was unveiled in 2024 and is now the company's home for gin, vodka and its expanding single malt whisky operation.
The botanicals they use come from all over the world — nutmeg from the Spice Islands of Grenada; juniper from Spain; Guatemalan cardamom; Spanish citrus... the list goes on.
The recipe for their Premium Gin is classic and they use 12 botanicals. Their bottle is another nod to classic, being a take on the original Genever bottle.
They also have two other gin expressions — Scapegrace Black, a naturally black gin which changes to blush pink when tonic is added, and Scapegrace Gold, their Navy Strength gin with citrus and tangerine — plus a vodka.
But let's get back to the Rogue bit...
Rogue Society Gin was launched in 2014 by three friends — Mark, Richard and Daniel — who decided they wanted to join the gin boom.
As they gained traction internationally, they picked up a string of awards, but they also found themselves in a bit of a trademark war.
And this is where it gets interesting.
They'd already had a dispute in Australia with Regal Rogue, an Australian vermouth and aperitif brand.
Yes — vermouth (and a good one)!
So there were two drinks companies, both using Rogue, both wanting to operate in the Australian market.
Then things got even more interesting when Rogue Society tried to expand into Europe and came up against the considerably larger Rogue Brewing, the American brewery from Oregon.
And Rogue Brewing wasn't just some random craft brewery. It had originally been set up by three former Nike executives.
So, rather than spending years and a small fortune fighting trademark battles with men from the sneaker world — and potentially having their arses kicked by men in suits wearing sneakers — they did the honourable thing.
They changed their name.
In 2018 they settled on the slightly classier Scapegrace, an 18th-century synonym for rogue, rascal or renegade.
And actually, the rebranding was pretty clever.
It allowed them to market locally and internationally under one brand, rather than having different names in different territories. Their advertising campaign was hugely successful too, aligning the brand with famous people who had changed their names but were still instantly recognisable through their iconography.
Key to this was their classic and iconic bottle.
This needed only a subtle change to the medallion on the front and, being the free-spirited rebels they are, they ensured that Rogue Society remained embossed on the sides of the bottle.
So they changed the name...
...but didn't quite manage to get rid of it.
I rather like that.
And here's another twist.
Rogue Society has actually come back!
The old brand has been resurrected as a New Zealand-only offering, bringing back the original name and that free-spirited personality.
So my bottle isn't quite the historical relic I thought it was!
Are they rebels and pushing the boundaries as their name suggests?
Some may argue they aren't trying hard enough.
But I was really interested to discover that they also had a little dabble with a limited-edition gin "distilled to the vibrations of music".
Yep. Really.
In 2015 they teamed up with Wellington band Electric Wire Hustle and Loop Recordings to create a limited-edition Rogue Society Gin linked to the band's Aeons EP.
The gin was distilled whilst the music was being played around the distillation process, inspired by Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto's controversial claims about the effect of music and vibrations on water.
The bottles even came with a download of the five-track Aeons EP.
Logic suggests this will make not a juniper berry of difference to the taste.
But I do have another gin in my collection whose makers stand by the fact that music is an extra botanical.
If you don't remember it from my European Virtual Tour, it's Neighbours 11 Gin from Ginbow in Portugal!
So there we have it.
Not bad for a bunch of rogues.
And if Scapegrace means someone who has escaped grace...
...perhaps escaping the trademark lawyers was always part of the plan.
"Rogue Society Gin — the gin that got its arse kicked by trademark lawyers, changed its name, then came back for another go!"
The cocktail is perhaps appropriately a
Last Word. 1 part Gin, 1 part Green Chartreuse, 1 part Lime juice, 1 part Maraschino liqueur.
A gin born in New Zealand, made with botanicals from around the world, water from Southern Alps aquifers, a bottle inspired by Genever, a trademark battle involving a vermouth, a brewery and a gin, a name change, a brand resurrection...
...and a limited edition that was literally distilled to the sound of music.
"Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story."