Pog Mahone’s Irish Pub

Our infamous Beef and Guinness Pie recipe is kept close to the chest and hands down, beating out any pie in the whole of NZ, and we don't take that statement lightly.

Don't fancy a pie, we have a massive range of food available to suit everyone and when people say "pub-grub," they don't mean half measures. Our team have worked hard to take our food menu to another level than the usual pub grub, and we pride ourselves on having outstanding quality food every day of the week, whether it be our light and crispy classic fish & chips, our homemade seafood chowder that would comfort any Irish traveller missing home; or our perfectly balanced sweet and spicy sticky BBQ pork ribs. We are constantly trying to elevate the standard of food we deliver and are a staple in the Queenstown community known for both food and drink.

Aside from our excellent food options, nobody in NZ could argue that we don't have the best Guinness in the country. We sell a 3x higher volume of Guinness than our next competitor in the whole of NZ. Not only do we shift heaps of the stuff, we drink it, we look after it, we clean our own beer lines, do our own testing ;) And quality control to guarantee you the best possible pint of Guinness quite literally as far away from Dublin as you can get.

The Guinness speaks for itself, but the drinks selection we boast is second to none. We couldn't do it without our friends over at Lion Beverages, of course, but we also make sure to rotate in supporting local brands with our weekly alternating craft tap to showcase the excellent breweries around Central Otago.

But finally, it's not the food or the drink that makes Pogs Pogs, everyone says the same, it's the staff and the atmosphere we create. There's something about walking into an Irish Pub and sitting at the bar chatting to staff who genuinely want to have the craic with you, throw some insanely talented live musicians 7 days a week and you're onto a winner. Everyone who walks into Pogs generally stays forever and falls into the Pogs Bubble for good reason. We love it.

Describe the experience your customers have at your establishment – what is your food and beverage offering and why do people come back for more?

We truly believe the experience you set for customers is what brings people back in. The menu we have created over the years and the fact we constantly get feedback and reviews like "all through covid, all I could think about was getting back on a plane to Queenstown to get a beef & Guinness pie and a pint of Kilkenny from Pogs, and the moment the lights came back on, we booked them". We've had 25 years to perfect it, and we put all the love and care into what feedback people give us to make sure we are a pub for the people.

Between the massive drinks selection and the wide variety of cuisines done well, that's what brings people in the door, and we believe the quality of these and the staff that serve them are what brings people back. We bring people nostalgia and a sense of comfort they can't get on this side of the world. Making our own special recipe soda bread inspired by the home comforts of Ireland to soak up the gravy made from NZ produce and meats is a perfect example of how we have combined the two cultures perfectly to provide what, clearly, our customers want. The word of mouth we get and the new levels of trade we have gained over the years prove the reputation we have built and deserve.

Tell us how you showcase NZ produce / offerings? Does your menu change with the season and how is it locally influenced. How do you accommodate allergy and dietary requirements?

On the bar front, we try our best to keep as many kiwi owned brands as possible to boast, from way up past Auckland at Sawmill brewery, all the big brands in the middle like Steinlager, Panhead, Macs, Zeffer, Speights (Pride of the south! woohoo) all the way to the small but mighty breweries and wineries of central otago - like Canyon Brewing, Altitude Brewing, Mt Difficulty Wines to name a few.

On the food side of the business, our chefs are always endeavouring to try local produce, to go with the local European Bakery for their quality and dedication to customers. We change our menus between the hotter and colder half of the year and keep seasonal vegetables on rotation with the local distributors to bring the freshest plates to our customers.

With allergy and dietary requirements becoming more and more complicated day by day we are constantly seeing how we can make safe, tasty and satisfying meals for our customers to make them feel less excluded and limited on choice.

We pride our chefs and our kitchen on their ability to adapt to no gluten, with individual ovens/fryers/grill tops specifically to avoid cross contamination.

Queenstown is quite a limited transient town, we have lots of travelers who are constantly looking for eating out options, unable to cook their own preference. We try and accommodate this by altering where possible on the menu.

Also our Stonegrill range is fantastic for dietary requirements. Pick a meat, a choice of sides and a choice of sauce & the meat comes out raw on a 400 degree granite stone and you cook it at the table. This emphasises the good quality of the locally sourced meats without the distraction of oils and seasonings etc. The "create your own" element to the whole meal means people can tailor it to their own preferences, be that, dairy friendly, gluten friendly etc.

What are your key points of difference and how have you managed to deliver them?

I believe we have a few points of difference that make us stand out above other pubs.

1. We sell the most Guinness in NZ. We can hand on heart say our Guinness is one of, if not the best pint of Guinness in New Zealand. I believe we also sell the most across NZ and Australia combined, but we haven't checked those numbers since pre-COVID. I imagine it's still true. We can say we sell the best pint because we love it. The love and care that goes into our Guinness is passed down between the generations of staff members. We all drink it so we know when it tastes not 100% and anything below 100% gets taken off. We have gone through the training to maintain and clean our beer lines, including doing our own cleaning of the beer lines religiously every 2 weeks. And finally, we have the most successors to our infamous "100-pint club" run officially by Guinness across the whole of NZ, in which people get their name on a plaque on the wall to prove achievement. The walls are plastered with 25 years of history.

2. Pog's bar and woodwork was all made in Ireland with local materials and then packed up and shipped over from Ireland to NZ. We have two joint owners here at Pogs, one is Kiwi and one is Irish, both equally in love with this pub but we like to think of Pogs as the perfect balance between Ireland and NZ, the similar type of friendly people who are approachable, kind and always ready for a chat at the bar with a stranger. That's what we focus on, we take in strangers and locals and regulars all equal and people sit at the bar and tell the staff about their lives, their new adventures or their love life issues. An Irish pub is inclusive and you will not find another pub in NZ where FREQUENTLY we get travellers, solo or in groups, come to Pogs on their first day in town and then come in every single day, all day for the length of their stay. We are a home base for not just Irish, everyone is welcome to our cosy little living room comfort pub.

Please describe your commitment to sustainability.

We do our best to reduce waste and keep up with any possible ways to minimise the bad that we could be putting into the world but one thing we do outside of the norm is that on top of our limit for recycling (glass in particular), anything over the limit that can be sent to council or removed responsibly, we donate to a local company called Smash it. They are a rage room style that let customers break bottles and plates etc or old appliances and we give them a big box or two a day now so I think we may be keeping them in business but it benefits everyone!

Have you won any awards in the recent past?

Always having had a focus on customer experience and reviews, we haven't actually entered many competitions over the years. However, with our popularity, feedback and trade all at an all-time high, we feel now is the time to solidify our reputation as one of New Zealand’s most popular venues with some official recognition. This has been a long time coming, and we are ready to prove our beloved customers right.

Please describe how you create ambience.

The interior of the pub being built and shipped over to NZ directly from Ireland sets the tone as you walk in the door. There is a feel to the wooden hand crafted bar, and the slate stone floors and the intricately carved woodwork on the snugs and crownings.

Upon entering we keep a mix of Irish music, tradition and modern artists throughout our extensive playlists to ensure we are accurate without being overkill.

Sit down to our carefully curated food menu that mixes NZ pub, authentic Irish dishes, and some personal influences from our outstanding head chef items. All were designed and created to keep an inclusive feel with a strong nod to our Irish roots set firmly in NZ soil.

However, live music has always been a cornerstone of personality. With local artists and Irish and other far flung corners of the world, we take talent very seriously in setting a tone. Music 7 days a week, we have the outstanding John Healy leading the charge, singing with his Derry accent and his quick wit chatting to the audience, you can see for yourself how our bands command a room on a Friday night. Jamie Relton on the fiddle sends shivers down your spine and could quiet an audience and hold them at a string tone. You will frequently hear the draw of "Zombie" playing and you couldn't not stop in for a look.

Good food, good music, good staff and good pints are what make our ambience next to none. Our Irish pub located in the corner of NZ holds it own against it's NZ similar venues.

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