The Rogue & Vagabond describes itself plainly on its own website: Craft Beer Bar, Wellington, New Zealand. This listing covers the venue's Roseneath branch at 27 Dundas St — the address that appears in directories as Rogue Burger, Little Sprig. Behind either name sits the same operation: a rotating cast of New Zealand craft beers on tap, a compact food menu anchored by the namesake Rogue Burger, and a stage that is properly set up for live music rather than treating it as an afterthought.
The heart of the bar is its 'On Tap Now' board, which typically runs to around seventeen different pours from breweries around the country — Parrotdog, Urbanaut, Kererū, Baylands, Aliment, Three Sisters and Te Aro Brewing among them. The spread runs from pilsners and blonde ales through pale ales, IPAs and hazies to stouts, plus a playful streak of sours and fruit pours that few tap lists would risk.
Food is kept deliberately simple: the venue points diners to its Instagram (@rogueandvagabond) for the current menu, with Punk Wing Wednesdays a standing fixture from 5pm until the wings sell out. General enquiries go to [email protected], gig enquiries to a dedicated music contact, and updates flow through Facebook and Twitter.
Some bars make you guess what they're about. The Rogue & Vagabond tells you on every page of its website: Craft Beer Bar, Wellington, New Zealand. This listing covers the venue's Roseneath branch at 27 Dundas St — the address that shows up in directories as Rogue Burger, Little Sprig. Whatever name you first met it under, the promise is the same: a deep, ever-changing lineup of New Zealand craft beer on tap, a compact food menu with a namesake burger at its centre, and a stage that's properly set up for live music rather than an afterthought.
The obvious place to start is the Beer & Ales page, which lists what's pouring under 'On Tap Now'. On any given visit that board can run to seventeen different taps, and the spread is genuinely wide. There are brown ales (Shadow Force from Baylands Brewery at 5.8%), American pale ales (Bathgate from Aliment Brewing, Raptor from Parrotdog), straight IPAs (Green Mountain from Aliment, Detroit from Urbanaut) and hazier takes on the style, like Del Mar, a pink grapefruit hazy IPA, and High Street, a 4.6% hazy pale ale — both Urbanaut pours.
Darker weather gets covered too: ParrotDog's Black stout and Kererū Brewing's Moonless oatmeal stout sit alongside Kererū's Big Pigeon pilsner and Three Sisters' Oakura Blonde. And then there are the pours that mark this tap list out as someone having fun: Urbanaut's Karma Cola Sour at 6.0%, Slackline, a mango and guava gose from Baylands, Ginger Fusion — a ginger beer with mandarin from Hawke's Bay — and Peach Bomb, cheerfully self-described as alcoholic peach juice. Lighter options are there as well: Hop Turtle, a low-carb XPA from Te Aro Brewing at 4.4%, and Pure Lager from Hawke's Bay at a sessionable 4.0%. The ABVs cluster in the easy-drinking-to-bold middle range, from the 4.0% lager and gose up to a handful of 6.0% sours and hazies.
The food side of the operation is deliberately lean — the Menus page points you to the bar's Instagram, @rogueandvagabond, for the current menu rather than maintaining a static list. That suits a kitchen that changes week to week. One thing you can set your watch by, though, is Punk Wing Wednesdays: wings sold by the piece, or by the dozen with a pint, running from 5pm until they're sold out. It's the kind of deal that fills a room early, so arriving on the earlier side of the evening is the sensible play.
The Rogue Burger itself gives this branch its directory name, and keeping an eye on Instagram is the way to see what else the kitchen is turning out as the tap list shifts.
The Rogue & Vagabond treats live music as part of the core operation, not a weekend garnish. The contact page has a dedicated music and gigs email — [email protected] — plus a downloadable stage gear list, the sort of document you produce when bands are loading in regularly and want to know exactly what backline awaits them. If you play, that PDF is worth reading before you pack the van.
Everything else runs through the usual channels: general enquiries to [email protected], and updates on Facebook and Twitter, where new taps and gigs get flagged. There's a Merch & Stuff page too, if you want to leave with something more permanent than an empty glass.
Come for the beer: a rotating, all-New Zealand tap list that stretches from pilsner to cola sours without losing its way. Time a visit for a Wednesday if wings and a pint sound like your evening. Check Instagram first so you know what the kitchen is up to, and glance at the Beer & Ales page on your phone outside the door — because the only predictable thing about this tap list is that it won't be the same next week.