19

Caretaker's Cottage

Melbourne

• The Best Bar in Australasia 2025, sponsored by Tia Maria

Discover world-leading martinis in this Melbourne city refuge

Beneath the skyscrapers in the middle of the Melbourne CBD, there's a small, humble-looking place that was once the residence of the caretaker of the church next door. It's here you'll find a small team taking care of the thirsty, the tired and those in need of a good time. 

Caretaker's Cottage opened here quietly in 2022; it has since become a must-visit for locals and travellers alike. The owners – Matt Stirling, Ryan Nordics and Rob Libecans – have some of the world's best bars on their resumes, and the skills to match. But at Caretaker's Cottage, they hang their hats on two distinct drinks that you can find anywhere, but nowhere as good as here: the martini and Guinness. Come in the afternoon, and you'll see guests with a Guinness in hand; the smart drinkers order the best boilermaker in the country, a pint of the black stuff and their signature martini: served bracingly cold from the freezer with a gin the bar has custom made, it appears regularly on lists of Australia's best cocktails. But to stop there would be to miss the rotating list of signature cocktails that change every month, on a newly designed menu from Noreiks. But the real feat they've achieved in a small place, is ensuring that – despite being Melbourne's busiest cocktail bar – every guest feels like they've found a place of their own.

Contact