Caretaker’s Cottage trio plan second bar
The team behind Melbourne bar Caretaker’s Cottage will open another venue in the city, named Three Horses.
The team found an address at 106 Lonsdale Street for their second bar, a few doors down from Caretaker’s Cottage, and say the opening is the result of long-held ambition and fortunate timing.
Three Horses is slated to open in late August or early September.
“We’ve been looking for the right second venue for a few years now,” said Rob Libecans, co-founder of Caretaker’s Cottage. “We’ve focused on building a strong team and giving them the tools and space to take Caretaker’s into the future. When the space next door became available, it just felt right.”
The concept’s inspiration comes from the team’s travels over the past few years, particularly a visit to Madrid, which stood out.
They fell in love with the Spanish capital’s traditional Sherry bars and the travelling also gave them a fresh perspective on both global hospitality and their own roots in Melbourne.
“Melbourne has a strong wine culture, and Australia has a long history with Sherry/Apera. We saw an opportunity to bring something familiar yet fresh – to take what we loved in Spain and reimagine it through a local lens,” Libecan explained.
Three Horses will be, first and foremost, a cocktail bar. The menu will have 16 seasonally-rotating cocktails, all designed to showcase Australian spirits and produce.
One cocktail making the journey over from Caretaker’s Cottage is its signature House Martini, which guests can enjoy with the option to add fino Sherry in a nod to the venue’s Spanish influence.
Additionally, alongside the cocktails, Sherry and wine by the bottle will also feature prominently.
Libecans, along with Ryan Noreiks and Matt Stirling, opened Caretaker’s Cottage in March 2022.
In the time since, it has gone on to become a cornerstone of the Melbourne cocktail scene, and also a mainstay on The World’s 50 Best Bars lists.
The venue is located in an old cottage that seats just 25 (the team call it “probably Victoria’s smallest pub”) and its menu changes every month.
In other recent Melbourne on-trade news, SB recently looked into the making of the signature cocktail at another of the city’s acclaimed drinking dens, Brydi bar and its Speed Bump serve.
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