A former coffee shop in Darlington’s designer district is now offering customers something a little stronger. Jenny Needham talks to purveyor of gin Jenni Palmer

Gin is in, big time. The drink, which has always been popular mixed with tonic water as a thirst-quenching aperitif, is having a major renaissance as independent distilleries make their own versions of the juniper-flavoured spirit.

At Genever, formerly Elliot’s coffee shop, 50 different gins are on offer, all with their own subtly different characteristics. “I have to say it was very difficult to condense the hundreds of possibilities down to just 50,” says 33-year-old Jenni Palmer, general manager of Darlington’s first gin bar. “We will be rotating them regularly and will be supportive of new distilleries.”

The House Gin at Genever is Mason's as the locally produced spirit was the first gin Jenni really felt an affinity with when she worked in the drinks department at Lewis and Cooper, in Northallerton. “I had never been a gin lover, but this was amazing,” she says. “It really opened my eyes to the big world of gin and I thought it was fabulous that a couple from Bedale could make an award-winning version.”

Jenni is originally from Richmond, but has lived in Darlington for the past 15 years. Throughout her twenties, she worked at Capita, but when she hit 30, she decided she needed a change. “I sat and thought about what I enjoyed doing and came up with drinking wine,” she laughs. “I took a wine course and thought it was fascinating. I loved the geography, learning about climate and soil types and the business side of the trade and how it affects economies.”

A job in the wine department at Lewis and Cooper helped add to her knowledge of the drinks industry and she developed a sideline, A Vine Night In, offering informal wine tasting evenings in people’s homes, as well as writing occasional articles for international wine magazine, A Glass of Bubbly.

It was on a rare night out with partner Andrew – the couple have four young children – that they passed the coffee shop on Grange Road and started chatting about how it would make a great bar. “Andrew works for owner of Geoff in his home improvement business and I decided I should mention my idea to him,” says Jenni. “He took a leap of faith and agreed. I thought about what Darlington already had to offer in terms of nightlife and finally settled on a gin bar. A lot of bars in the town have a great gin offering but I wanted to take this a step further and really push the boundaries.”

Jenni aims to develop a cocktail menu in the next few months. “I really want the staff to be involved, injecting their personality into our creations,” she says. A food menu will concentrate on light snacks, such as cheese boards.

Jenni’s enthusiasm for gin is infectious. “Like wine, it's amazing how gins can be so different,” she says. “With wine these differences can be down to the vineyard, the winemaker and climate, whereas with gin it's down to the distiller to experiment with botanicals to produce exciting flavours. Chase Elegant Crisp Gin, from Herefordshire, has notes of dried basil and elderflower whereas Gin Mare, produced just south of Barcelona, has notes of rosemary, pine and olive. At Genever, we aren't pretentious about our gin. We want people to experiment with different gins, tonics and garnishes, rather than being told what works and what doesn't.”

Alongside the growth of different gins, there has also recently been a rise in the production of craft tonic water, and Jenni has decided to stock Double Dutch rather than the bigger names. “I absolutely love these tonics produced by Dutch twin sisters Joyce and Raissa de Haas,” she says. “They have concentrated on high-end bars and restaurants such as The Dorchester and I'm thrilled that we will be stocking them.”

Jenni hopes to attract a wide range of customers. There’s a carefully considered wine list, with wines from Bon Coeur Wines, based in Melsonby, and a few specialist wines from Aussie Rules, in Glasgow. “I'm particularly excited to be offering Syn Rouge by the glass, a sparking Shiraz, blended with port,” she says. “It's sublime.” For beer lovers, brews will include the local Rocket Town.

As for the name of her new bar, Jenni spent some time mulling this over. “I came up with a few but kept coming back to Genever, a spirit produced in Holland and Belgium as far back as the 16th century which eventually evolved into what we know as gin today,” she says. “We also wanted a name that was easy to remember and has some meaning. The history of gin is fascinating. I have really enjoyed all the research I have done.”

My favourite Gin-based drink…

French 75 as this combines my love of sparkling wine and gin.

Using a flute glass, premix 35ml of gin, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and a teaspoon of sugar syrup. Measure the pre-mix into the glass and top up with chilled Champagne.