Three Foxes Ruby Vermouth 17% 700ml

Three Foxes was founded by Sarkis (an engineer by training) and Alec (a Melbourne creative), cousins and fourth-generation distillers in a Greek-Australian family whose earlier generations made ouzo and vodka. The cousins took over the family operation, redirected it toward organic certification and contemporary aperitivo categories, and now produce in Heidelberg, an inner-northern Melbourne suburb. The distillery is small-scale and family-run; the production schedule emphasises slow batch sizes over the volume of a contract distiller.

Three Foxes is fully organic — both the spirit base and the botanicals are certified — which is unusual in the Australian craft-spirit category, where organic certification has been slower to take hold than in food. The line straddles two product categories: low-ABV aperitifs and bottled cocktails (Sunny Arvo aperitivo, Sunno non-alcoholic aperitivo, espresso martini at 13%) and higher-ABV bittering products (Espresso Amaro at 23%, Triple Bitter at 27%, Limoncello at 20%). The vodka and gin sit alongside as house-distilled bases for the line.

The Espresso Amaro is the house's most-recognised release: a bittered amaro built on espresso and dark chocolate at a low-mid ABV that suits both digestif and Espresso Martini service. The Triple Bitter and Roselle Gin (a hibiscus-forward style) round out the bittering and gin slots. The bottled cocktails — Espresso Martini and Sunny Arvo — sit in the supermarket-adjacent ready-to-pour segment but at a higher quality and lower-sugar profile than the typical RTD.