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A kind of magic: Renais co-founder Alex Watson talks fine gin brand and working with his sister Emma
By Shivani Dubey | 16 August 2024 | Culture, Food & Drink
The Renais Gin co-founder tells Tempus about celebrating the fine gin brand’s first anniversary and collaborating with his sister, Harry Potter star Emma Watson
According to Renais founder Alex Watson, gin is best enjoyed with friends and family. This principle is one of the founding messages of the brand, created by Emma and Alex Watson, and which is celebrating its first birthday with a new Édition Anniversaire.
The exclusive bottle even comes with birthday pins, featuring the original brand illustrations by Harry Potter actor, activist and co-founder Emma. Following in the footsteps of their father, winemaker Chris Watson – who established his award-winning Chablis estate in the 1990s – Alex and Emma were inspired to use the grape skins from wine production to create a sustainable luxury gin.
In fact, with sustainability one of the siblings’ key areas of focus, there is a lot to love about this creative gin brand. Here, Alex looks back on a year of Renais, the joy of working with family, and his favourite summer serves.
Alex, congratulations on Renais’ first anniversary. Please tell us about the Édition Anniversaire?
Thank you. To mark our first birthday in style, we launched a striking limited-edition black and foiled gold bottle and sleeve that comes with birthday badge sets featuring a grape, a shell and a flower – which are nods to our previous sell-out edition, with artwork designed by Emma.
The idea behind Édition Anniversaire was to inspire a decadent evening of celebration and togetherness with a stylish and sophisticated design that would make a glamorous addition to any drinks trolley, and the perfect choice to celebrate and toast.
What sets Renais apart?
As a brand founded by family, we want Renais to bring friends and family together. Renais’ flavour profile is unique, cultivated in France and distilled in the UK. It’s a vibrant amber-hued modern gin inspired by the produce and provenance of Northern France. The spirit is sustainably distilled from upcycled French wine pressed grapes, then tastefully infused with all-natural, rare botanicals – including hand-picked Grand Cru grapes, cubeb berries, Kimmeridgian stone, acacia honey, linden flower and rock salt.
What inspired you and Emma to establish Renais?
We have a rich family history of winemaking. My dad planted our vineyards, Domaine Watson in Chablis, and Emma and I spent most of our childhood trips there. These memories hold a special place in our hearts. Our dad went on to become an award-winning winemaker, so I learnt a lot from him around the craftsmanship of wine.
As I got older, I spent time working at the winery in France and came to the realisation that a career in the drinks industry was my calling. I had worked with luxury spirits brands for almost a decade and was drawn to brands with a strong sense of place.
Inspired by two generations of winemaking at Domaine Watson, I saw an opportunity to create a gin inspired by the winemaking traditions in our family – and do something sustainable by reusing the grape skins and giving them a second life. I chatted my idea through with Emma, who also felt that pull of family and tradition.
What has it been like to work together as a family?
Working with Emma on a passion we both share has been a huge blessing. We have formed a great team and Renais has seen some great successes despite only being one year old – the brand was awarded Gold at the Spirits Business Gin Masters in 2023 and 2024, and received great responses from critics, bartenders and even the broader community. It’s now available in 18 countries.
Emma and I complement each other very well, as we each focus on our areas of strength. I mainly focus on the operational and business side of things due to my 10 years’ experience in the drinks and hospitality industry. Emma has been massively involved in the creative side of things – so almost all of the creative you may have seen would have been directed by her.
Emma’s artwork for last year’s limited-edition summer sleeve featured her original illustrations, and we took these illustrations to create the pin badge motifs that come with each bottle of Édition Anniversaire.
What are your favourite ways to enjoy Renais?
In celebration of the Renais Édition Anniversaire bottle, we crafted the Crusta Anniversaire, a bespoke cocktail reimagining the classic Crusta — the height of luxury in its era, when sugar and champagne were a rare commodity. This serve is unashamedly decadent and dry, with crisp green apple notes of champagne and layers of minerality, citrus and spice.
Recently we crafted new summer cocktails, and our hero serves include the Poire Spritz, Frozais and Renais Cup – perfect sundowners to enjoy in the heat. Emma’s favourite, I think, would be the Emma Spritz – she has a bit of a sweet tooth, so we wanted to make something long and refreshing to suit her palate.