The range
Everything on the site made in Australia — which is most of it, and deliberately so. Gin from Four Pillars, Archie Rose, Never Never, Poor Toms, Manly Spirits, Brookie's, Applewood and Karu. Whisky from Lark, Starward and Archie Rose. Cane spirit from Husk and Winding Road. Cocktails from Curatif and Maybe Sammy. Wine from the Barossa, Coonawarra, Margaret River, the Yarra and Tasmania.
Australian distilling changed in about a decade from a curiosity to something that wins its categories internationally — Karu's Lightning took the contemporary gin trophy at the IWSC in 2021. This is the part of the range we would argue for hardest.
127bottles, chosen one at a time.
South Eastern Australia
We stock it because it is number two in the state, and because most bottles of sparkling wine sold in this country are opened for a reason rather than chosen for a flavour - that customer needs a price, not a lecture.
750 mL11.0%6.5 std
$8.99
Yarra Valley, Victoria
We stock it because it is number four in the state at four times the price of the bottles around it, which tells you the demand is for the method and not only for bubbles, and because it is the bridge between the eight dollar shelf and the eighty dollar one.
750 mL12.5%7.4 std
$32.99
South Eastern Australia
We stock it because it is number twelve in the state and the second pinot grigio here, which is what a category with this much sauvignon blanc in it needs.
750 mL12.0%7.1 std
$11.99
South Eastern Australia
We stock it because it is number six in the state and the cheapest bottle in this whole range, and because there is a real and regular demand for sparkling wine bought by the half dozen.
750 mL11.0%6.5 std
$7.99
King Valley, Victoria
We stock it because it is number seven in the state and number two nationally, and because between this and the De Bortoli bottle the King Valley owns the category outright - which is a better story than any imported prosecco can tell here.
750 mL11.5%6.8 std
$14.99
Australia
We stock it because it is number three in the state, and because Yellowglen between its white and pink bottlings is the most bought sparkling name in New South Wales by a distance.
750 mL11.0%6.5 std
$8.49
South Eastern Australia
We stock it because it is number ten in the state, and because it is the cheapest way to show the difference between Australian and New Zealand sauvignon blanc, which is larger than most people expect.
750 mL12.2%7.2 std
$9.99
Clare Valley, South Australia
We stock it because the New South Wales top ten contains no chardonnay whatsoever and the most planted white grape in Australia cannot be missing from an Australian wine shelf. This is a judgment call on top of the ranking, and the Taylors bottle is the one that also earns its place on quality.
750 mL13.0%7.7 std
$19.99
South Eastern Australia
We stock it because it is number eight in the state and the highest-ranked white here that is not sauvignon blanc, and because eight sauvignon blancs in a row is a list, not a range.
750 mL12.0%7.1 std
$8.99
Victoria
We stock it because the raw top-seller list contains no pinot noir at all and a red shelf without one is missing the grape more people have moved to than any other in the last decade. This is a judgment call on top of the ranking, and it is the cheapest way to make it.
750 mL13.0%7.7 std
$12.99
South Eastern Australia
We stock it because cabernet merlot is the blend most people mean when they say they want a red that is not too big, and because nothing else in the top twelve covers it.
750 mL13.5%8.0 std
$13.99
Coonawarra, South Australia
We stock it because Coonawarra cabernet is one of the few genuinely distinctive things Australia does with the grape, and this is the least expensive way onto that strip of red soil.
750 mL13.5%8.0 std
$14.99
South Eastern Australia
We stock it because it is number eight in the state, and because the bin numbers are the reason a lot of Australians know how to ask for a red wine at all.
750 mL13.5%8.0 std
$13.99
Clare Valley, South Australia
We stock it because it is number nine in the state on its own merits, and because Clare cabernet is firmer and less sweet than the Barossa reds beside it - the two bottles are not interchangeable and the shelf should show that.
750 mL14.0%8.3 std
$19.99
South Eastern Australia
We stock it because it is number six in the state and because it does the same job as the Koonunga Hill blend several dollars lower, which is a question customers ask directly.
750 mL13.5%8.0 std
$8.99
South Australia
We stock it because it is the red more people in New South Wales buy than any other, and because it is the cheapest bottle on this shelf carrying a name that means something to a winemaker as well as to a shopper.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$14.99
Clare Valley, South Australia
We stock it because it is the highest-ranked single-region red in the state that is not owned by one of the two big groups, and because Clare shiraz tastes of somewhere in a way that a South Eastern Australia blend cannot.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$19.99
Barossa Valley, South Australia
We stock it because it is the number one red in the country and number four in this state, and because it is the point on this shelf where a shopper crosses from a wine they know into a wine from one named place.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$19.99
South Australia
We stock it because it is number three in the state behind its own stablemate, and because a customer who has decided on Koonunga Hill has usually also decided which grape they want.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$14.99
South Eastern Australia
We stock it because it is number two in the state and the least expensive real bottle in this range, and because a shelf where the cheapest red is twenty dollars is not serving everybody who shops here.
750 mL13.5%8.0 std
$9.99
Australia
We stock it because someone building a punch bowl for twenty people should not have to buy a bottle designed for sipping, and because the honest answer to what to use is not always the expensive one.
700 mL37.5%20.7 std
$46.99
Brookvale, New South Wales
We stock it because it is made about twenty kilometres from where these orders are packed, and because we buy it direct from the distillery rather than through a wholesaler.
700 mL40.0%22.1 std
$60.99
Sydney, New South Wales
We stock it because the same distillery's gin and whisky are already on these shelves and this is the third side of the same argument, and because most Australian vodka is bought in bulk and rebottled - this one is not.
700 mL40.0%22.1 std
$53.99
New Norfolk, Tasmania
We stock it because it is the line that settles the argument about pre-made cocktails being the cheap end of a shop, and because it is made at a scale where the blend was a decision somebody made rather than a specification somebody met.
700 mL23.0%12.7 std
$92.99
Melbourne, Victoria
We stock it because this is the one people ask for by name, and because the zero-alcohol version of a sweet drink has to work hardest of all - there is no spirit underneath to carry it, so the fruit has to be real.
250 mL0.0%0.0 std
Melbourne, Victoria
We stock it because the Paloma is the drink this shelf has most to say about - Karu's smoked chipotle version sits a few tiles away - and because somebody who is not drinking should be able to have the same drink as everyone else rather than a different and lesser one.
250 mL0.0%0.0 std
Melbourne, Victoria
We stock it because a bottle shop that sells only alcohol has nothing to offer the person at the table who is not drinking tonight, and because handing them a soft drink is not the same gesture. This is recognisably the drink everyone else is having.
250 mL0.0%0.0 std
Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria
We stock it because a distillery canning its own drink is rarer than it sounds - most cans in this category are made under contract for a brand that owns no still - and because which of the two you are holding is worth being able to tell.
250 mL8.0%1.6 std
Sydney, New South Wales
We stock it because Maybe Sammy make it from the fruit, and because a drink carrying that reputation is worth one bottle on the shelf arguing the reputation is out of date. Ingredients: 42 Below Vodka, Lemon Myrtle, Lychee, Supasawa
100 mL24.0%1.9 std
Sydney, New South Wales
We stock it because it is the only coffee cocktail here built on rum rather than vodka, and the gap between those two is most of the argument for buying a drink somebody made instead of the bottles to make it. Ingredients Bacardi Oro, Mr Black, Pineapple, Almond
100 mL22.0%1.7 std
Sydney, New South Wales
We stock it because the aperitivo is the one drink on this shelf with an actual job to do, and because most bottled versions are a spritz with the bubbles taken out. This one holds together poured over ice on its own.
100 mL18.0%1.4 std
Sydney, New South Wales
We stock it because it is the one bottle here that could not have been made anywhere else, and because it answers a question worth asking: what the classic cocktails would look like if they had been written in this country.
100 mL26.0%2.1 std
Sydney, New South Wales
We stock it because it is the one in this range we would hand somebody who says they do not like Martinis, and because it usually turns out that what they did not like was the gin rather than the drink.
100 mL26.0%2.1 std
Sydney, New South Wales
We stock it because it was built by a bar that has to defend it to customers every night, and because the small bottle lets you put it beside the canned Margaritas on this shelf and taste what the difference between the two formats actually amounts to.
100 mL22.0%1.7 std
Sydney, New South Wales
We stock it because it takes a drink people order out of habit and gives them a reason to notice it again, and because Maybe Sammy have the standing to change a Martini without it reading as a gimmick. Ingredients 42 Below Vodka, Olive Brine, Oregano, Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth, Grapefruit Bitters
100 mL28.0%2.2 std
Sydney, New South Wales
We stock it because the Old Fashioned is the drink most often ruined by pre-mixing - too sweet, too dilute, or both - and this one is neither. It also travels, which matters when the alternative is carrying three bottles and a jigger to someone else's kitchen.
100 mL30.0%2.4 std
Yarra Valley, Victoria
We stock it because it is the Four Pillars can that tastes least like everything else in the fridge, and because the bottle it is built from is on our gin shelf, so you can find out whether you like the idea before committing to one.
250 mL5.5%1.1 std
Sydney, New South Wales
We stock it because it comes from a working Sydney bar rather than a contract bottler, and because 100 mL is one drink. You are buying a single Negroni made by the people who built their name on it, not a bottle you have to commit to.
100 mL24.0%1.9 std
Melbourne, Victoria
We stock it because it is the least obvious can in the range and the one most likely to change someone's mind about what a canned cocktail can be.
130 mL20.0%2.1 std
Melbourne, Victoria
We stock it because it is the version people ask for, and because the heat is built in rather than sitting on the rim as a gimmick.
130 mL22.0%2.3 std
Melbourne, Victoria
We stock it because Mr Black is made an hour up the coast and sits on our own shelf, and because most canned versions of this drink are sugar and coffee flavouring.
120 mL20.0%1.9 std
Melbourne, Victoria
We stock it because the drink has spent forty years being made badly and this is what it is supposed to taste like.
130 mL17.0%1.7 std
Byron Bay, New South Wales
We stock it because it is the same gin we sell by the bottle four tiles away, and because a canned G&T that tastes of juniper rather than of sweetened citrus is rarer than the shelf space this category gets would suggest.
275 mL6.0%1.3 std
Melbourne, Victoria
We stock it because Starward's Two-Fold is on our whisky shelf and this is what the distillery does with it, and because at 500 mL it is the pouring format of a drink we otherwise only sell one can at a time.
500 mL32.0%12.6 std
$64.99
Melbourne, Victoria
We stock it because a Margarita made properly is three ingredients and no sugar syrup, and this is the only canned one on our shelf that reads that way.
130 mL22.0%2.3 std
Melbourne, Victoria
We stock it because it is built from spirits we sell separately, so you can taste the parts against the whole, and because the strength is on the front of the can rather than buried.
140 mL24.0%2.7 std
Tintenbar, New South Wales
We stock it because it tastes like the place it is from, which is the whole argument for buying local spirits rather than the label on the front.
700 mL40.0%22.1 std
$85.00
Tumbulgum, New South Wales
We stock it because it is grown, pressed and distilled in one place in northern New South Wales, and there are very few spirits in this country you can say that about.
700 mL40.0%22.1 std
$75.00
