Gone are the days of a couple of kegs or a chilly bin of stubbies sold from a hastily-erected tent, with a few chairs and tables scattered about.
In fact, dispensing drinks to paying customers at The Hills during the New Zealand Open this week has become something of a fine art with the introduction of two plush mobile bars.
Both represent significant financial investment and both are prominently placed on the course, although a respectful distance apart.
One - the Queenstown-owned Travelling Goodbar - already boasts a name and has been seen at several race meetings around the region.
You can find it this week beside the 15th green, the much-publicised party hole where spectators hope to see the pros drive the 311m par 4 and, as happened in 2007, score a rare albatross, i.e., a hole in one.
The other - as yet unnamed but sporting the Heineken regalia this week - was only on its third "gig", New Zealand Mobile Exhibitions manager Lindsay Habib said.
It is the anchor tenant of the Mainstreet corporate/retail area, just a pitching wedge from the No 1 green.
There was nothing quite like this Hamilton-made facility in New Zealand, said Mr Habib, who has the facts and figures to back his claims.
The bar weighs 30 tonnes, including the 430hp, 14m-long Mitsubishi truck and trailer unit, and has a floor space of 220sq m, which can seat 200 people or about 400 if standing.
Inside, there is an 8m-long bar made from American oak, eight plasma TVs and a computerised music system featuring 21,000 video tracks and 9000 audio tracks.
Further good news, considering the single-digit temperatures this week, is that the bar is heated.
"If it snows, we'll just put the heaters on," Mr Habib said cheerfully.
Meanwhile, St George Trust chief executive Russell Gray said the Travelling Goodbar was one of a kind.
The Goodbars group, which owns and operates bars in Queenstown and Wanaka, including Sky Bar, Bardeaux, Barmuda and Bar Up, had spent $500,000 kitting out its custom-made bar, which had "Alastair Spary's name all over it in terms of innovation".
"If I can do this in bars in Queenstown and Wanaka, why can't I take a bar to someone's farm for a party," he said.
The Dunedin and Timaru-built bar includes a 6.5m-long granite bar top; a 2000 watt stereo system; multiple plasma TV screens; its own chiller; dishwasher; and power source.
