Every genuinely useful partnership starts with one honest conversation, and ours with Six Fathoms Australian Spirits started with a simple question from Lisa Chesterfield: could a spirits brand and a farming charity build something together that neither could build alone?
The answer became Dark Acre — a distilled coffee liqueur that Six Fathoms handcrafts in Queensland, with $10 from every bottle going directly to The Mini Farm Project.
It's not a co-branding exercise or a one-off charity edition; it's a genuine, ongoing philanthropic partnership, and it shows in the product. Dark Acre won Gold at the London Spirits Competition 2025 — recognition earned on quality, from judges with no reason to be generous about the story behind it.
That's exactly what Lisa set out to prove: that a product built around a cause doesn't get a free pass on quality, and shouldn't want one. People buy Dark Acre first because it makes a genuinely excellent espresso martini. The fact that it also funds 10 meals per bottle is what turns a good sale into something worth telling a friend about.
Six Fathoms also does the heavy lifting on trade — pricing, supply and getting Dark Acre into venues and retailers across South East Queensland, work that sits outside what a small charity could manage alone.
It's the model we want more of: a business bringing its own expertise and its own product, and choosing to build a real cause into how it operates, not just what it donates.
Find Dark Acre at www.darkacre.com.au
