Having nailed the craft beer bar concept with their award-winning venues in St Kilda and Darlinghurst, the team behind The Local Taphouses turned their attention to the world of the bottleshop with The Local Bottle Store & Provisions. Located next door to their ever-expanding St Kilda bar, it’s given them the chance to massively expand the range of beers they can offer to punters at any one time.

As you’d expect, it’s a venue they’ve put plenty of time, thought and effort into. Taking its inspiration from classic Continental delis, right from the gold lettering in the windows and herbs and spices hanging by the counter to the striped aprons worn by the staff and choice of top notch provisions on offer, it’s more than just a beer store. The provisions include cheeses selected by specialist Sophie Classon, breads from Baker D Chirico and quality cured meats, olives and more. It’s well set up for newcomers too, with beers arranged clearly into styles and those styles then arranged in a sensible order, meaning you can learn a little just by perusing the shelves and fridges.

The whole setup is designed to encourage people to try new and different beers from a range that’s steadily growing from the 500 lining the shelves when it opened. There are loads of mixed six-packs put together by staff, ranging from starter packs and mixed lagers to seasonal beers and packs aimed at the more hardened of hopheads. What’s more, the more different beers you mix in any one purchase, the bigger the discount you’ll receive. It’s not just beer, however, with a small but carefully curated list of wines on offer – 25 reds and 25 white and sparkling wines.

Rounding it all off are Hank and Frankie, the two growler filling machines behind the counter. Named after the owners' children, they currently offer one beer at a time but have the potential to offer punters a choice of several draught beers. In the near future, punters won’t even have to come in to get their growler filled either – the Bottle Store has imported vintage European delivery bikes and plans to operate a growler delivery service to homes within 3km on certain days of the week.