Pug Mahon's is an authentic Irish pub located in Billings, Montana. It has Guinness and Harp on draught and corned beef and cabbage, pork and potatoes on the menu. It has an authentic Irish attitude in its name, too, according to owner Bill Maclntyre. "We were trying to get one of the 'floater’ liquor licenses available," Maclntyre said Tuesday, recalling late 1983. "We were just a small outfit, and the big boys didn't think we had a chance. Well we got it, and it was Pog Mo Thoin to them," he said. In Gaelic that means "kiss my... ."

Thus was born Pug Mahon's, which opened its doors in 1983. "It was a Friday the 13th too," said Maclntyre laughing. At the time, the new bar was really a hole in the wall. Maclntyre, or "Mr. Mac," was partners with Karen Belluomini, who owned the Sunflower Cafe at that location, 3011 First Ave. N. The cafe, featuring soups, salads and sandwiches, was only about as wide as the Packers offensive line. Maclntyre and Belluomini were partners in the bar/restaurant for four years. "I learned a great deal about the business from Karen," Maclntyre said.

In the ensuing two decades, Pug's has grown to take up almost half the block on the north side of the street. The east wall of the pub has been moved further east three times, expanding the dining area each time, MacIntyre said. He also bought up the Japanese restaurant at the east end of the block, opening The Bookie casino. One thing that hasn't changed is his reliable wait staff. Two of his employees have been with him 20 years - they were working with Belluomini at the Sunflower. "They have taken care of me for 20 years," he said. Two others have worked for him 19 years. "He's an easier boss than people realize," said Jody Monson, referring to Mr. Mac's sometime gruff exterior. She's been in the building 21 years. Carol Peterson, another 20-year veteran, said "I haven't figured that out," wondering where the time went.

The biggest day each year is, of course, St. Patrick's Day. The party goes from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. For several years, the pub sponsored a Miss St Patrick's Day contest with the proceeds going to Growth Thru Art. The contest is gone, but the bagpipers still entertain each year, coming down from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The pub is advertised as being 4,000 miles southwest of Dublin. It may be farther than that, MacIntyre has been to Ireland only once. His ancestors came from Blackwater in southwestern Ireland on the Ring of Kerry, so-called for the highway system that circumnavigates the county.

In that tradition, families are welcome in the pub, which serves Irish pub dinners. However, "It's my sainted mother's recipe for a pork chop sandwich," that remains the menu's favorite item, MacIntyre said. The "one punch and you're gone rule" has kept the atmosphere relatively quiet over the years, he said. "The people who've been here for 20 years are what makes it," Maclntyre said. "A downtown bar has the flavor of the community."

Article by Jim Gransbery of the Billings Gazette