The quick-thinking locals sprang into action after blaze broke out at the Seddonville Hotel in Westport.
Hotel manager Dean White told RNZ Checkpoint the fire started after a gas fault.
About half a dozen crates of beer were used to douse the fire in the corner.
"But the poor bugger that was grabbing them from the chiller, I didn't like the look on his face, he was a bit sad every time he passed a full beer out, he wasn't too happy but we got the result we needed."
If patrons had not acted the pub would have been lost, he said.
"It's easier to just get in there and do the hard yards and what you have to do because she would have been gone otherwise... Sometimes you've just got to do what you've got to do, but it worked. It saved the day so that's all that matters."
Seddonville volunteer firefighter Ian Mulholland told the Westport News he was driving home early on Monday evening when he saw the pub was “well ablaze”.
After checking there was nobody in the pub he raised the alarm and went to the station to get the fire truck.
The fire was almost out by the time crews arrived about 10 minutes later.
"Our industrious locals actually got bottles of beer... actually opening bottles of beer, shaking them, and putting the fire out," he told the Westport News.
In a Facebook post the owner thanked the community for helping avoid what could have been “a total disaster of a fire”.
"We will be back open again as soon as we are able, with cold beer," the post said.
