A Trowse-based brewery hopes gin will prove just the tonic to crack the Spanish drinks market.
Redwell Brewery, which produces craft beer at its Bracondale site and runs four pubs around Norwich, is poised to open a gin distillery at The Ten Bells pub in St Benedicts Street.
The brand new distillery, which is being imported from America, is set to be installed at the end of October and would be capable of producing 1.5m bottles of gin per year.
Patrick Fisher, co-owner of Redwell, said that there would be distillery tours to explain the gin-making process to people, and a wealth of different gins for pub-goers to enjoy.
'There's not an abundance of distilleries in Norfolk so we thought we would have one that locals can see, bottle their own gin, put their own inscriptions on if they want to do it as a present,' he explained. 'We're really proud of where we're from and we hope it's something Norwich people will like and the product will be good enough.
'We want to hit the ground running with it and make and sell as much as possible.'
The in-pub distillery could produce a batch of 4,700 bottles, of 70cl each, per day, and could be used to produce vodka as well as gin.
Bosses are awaiting trademark protection before revealing the brand name for the new gin, and the venture has created three new jobs.
'We've done some trial recipes at different distilleries but the exact recipe will be down to the distiller,' said Mr Fisher. 'We hope to produce a range of different gins.
'It won't be one up-and-down London dry gin - it will be a variety.'
He said he had been working with distributors including one in Barcelona to take the gin to the international market.
'They very much liked the sample product and the market there is much greater than here for gin,' he revealed.
The Ten Bells was closed for more than a month for refurbishment and re-opened last week.
It is now a modern space with lots of lightbulbs and metal-work on display, and the red phonebox and Norfolk signpost features have gone to create more room.
'They did take up a tremendous amount of room, as sad as it was to see them go,' said Mr Fisher. 'We wanted it so we could serve more people quicker and alleviate some of the bottlenecks.'
The pub has a Greene King freehold but is free of tie, serving more than two dozen gins, with a focus on cocktails and 'weird and wonderful beer' on cask and keg to be stocked.
'Hopefully when we start distilling here people will like what we produce and we will keep making Norwich proud of itself,' said Mr Fisher. 'There's so much you can do with gin as a product and there are a lot of gaps in that market to ake a tasty product people can enjoy.'
Redwell also runs the nearby Mash Tun which has a gin palace upstairs, along with the Tap House and the Lord Rosebery.
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