In a city where laneway legends and back-alley bottle shops often outshine the flashy big-budget builds, the team behind Caretaker’s Cottage—Melbourne’s intimate, now-iconic cocktail bar tucked beside a church and lit by the glow of reverence and whisky—are preparing to open a second venue. This one is called Three Horses, and it’s trotting in just a few doors down, at 106 Lonsdale Street.
Set to open in late August or early September 2025, Three Horses isn’t just a spillover space or an expansion—it’s a new chapter from a crew whose attention to detail borders on obsessive. Co-founder Rob Libecans, who opened Caretaker’s in 2022 with Ryan Noreiks and Matt Stirling, describes the upcoming bar as the result of “long-held ambition and fortunate timing.”
“When the space next door became available,” Libecans said, “it just felt right.”
But the idea didn’t ferment locally—it was fortified in Madrid, of all places. On a recent visit, the team found themselves falling for the Spanish capital’s Sherry bars—small, soulful places where aged barrels are worshipped like old friends and where aperitifs carry the weight of centuries.
Back in Melbourne, with its own deep-rooted wine culture and a national history steeped in Sherry and Apera, the connection clicked. “We saw an opportunity to bring something familiar yet fresh,” Libecans explained, “to take what we loved in Spain and reimagine it through a local lens.”
At its heart, Three Horses will be a cocktail bar, with a 16-drink seasonal menu that showcases Australian spirits and produce. The Caretaker’s signature House Martini—already the stuff of legend—will appear here too, this time optionally kissed with fino Sherry in a nod to the Iberian inspiration.
And for those who believe in the sacred pairing of liquid and place, bottles of Sherry and wine will hold court alongside the cocktails, anchoring the bar in both substance and style.
With Caretaker’s Cottage now a fixture on The World’s 50 Best Bars list, the expectations are impossibly high. But if Three Horses can harness even a fraction of that original magic—tempered with Spanish soul and Melbourne sensibility—it might just gallop into its own kind of legend.
For more on the Melbourne icon, head over to their official website.
