“It’s been everything from antique and op shops to ... finding stuff from people's mums and driving out to farms in the middle of nowhere to pick up bales of rusted barbed wire, horseshoes and stuff like that.”
After multiple delays, Moon Dog Wild West opens to the public, today in the former home of Franco Cozzo Footscray. And it represents another out-there step along the path the brewery has been taking for close to a decade-and-a-half.
The multi-storey taproom has been in the works since late 2022; the local council initially knocked back the proposal before giving it the green light in August 2023. Initially slated to open on April 18, the launch was delayed at the last minute due to issues around the placement of a fire hydrant.
Speaking to The Crafty Pint as the doors opened, co-founder Josh Uljans said that, despite the last minute hurdle, they couldn't be more excited to get the doors open and largely, getting the doors
"It's gone incredibly smoothly," he says. "There was an incredibly rapid construction phase and we couldn't be happier with the results; it's a really cool space that I'm super proud of and the team is stoked with.
"It's certainly a complicated project, there's no doubt about it, and it's been a very high-profile project."
Spanning three levels, Wild West can host up to 800 people with spaces including a rooftop beer garden and a Honky Tonk bar on the first level that features a stage for live music, pool tables and a “secret” pianola bar.
But most substantial is the area that greets you on the ground floor: there's a bucking bull stand acting as the centrepiece of the venue’s largest bar while, like Moon Dog World, there is also a substantial arcade and play area for kids, dubbed The Kids’ Ranch.
Moon Dog Wild West is just one of multiple venues the brewery team is working on: there's the 1,500-capacity venue near Marvel Stadium, dubbed Doglands, which is set to open later this year, while they're planning to open a Frankston site by the sea too. Josh says that the desire in Footscray is to create an engaging space where people can discover something new.
"That's the commonality: we're very clear on who we are and what our overall brand and venue personalities are," he says. "There are certainly differences in the overall theme and aesthetic but it's still very much a Moon Dog bar that's centred around the idea of just giving people a great time, having fun, and blowing their minds – but offering something that's completely different to what they're expecting."
Beyond the venue itself, both the food and drinks menus are diverse and tap into Moon Dog's Fizzer lineup of seltzers, an offering that's proven to be a major success for the brewery. Alongside Fizzer, they'll also be serving a substantial selection of wines, plus boozy slushies, cocktails and shots crafted by Moon Dog's Chris Hysted-Adams, who formerly worked at Black Pearl in Fitzroy, where he was named Australian Bartender of the Year three times.
"It gives us an offering that can give a broad range of people the experience they want," Josh says. "There's heaps of beer taps here, more than you could ever work through in a single session, but we've also got different arms of the business that offer other alcoholic beverages that can come together to deliver whatever people want to drink."
Although Wild West brings a brand new fit-out to the grand old Franco Cozzo shop, plenty of time and energy has gone into sourcing vintage gear, Western posters, paintings and memorabilia to fill the many spaces.
Tasked with finding such items was Dave Langlands, the brewery’s general manager of hospitality, a role that sees him play a key role in fitting out Moon Dog’s many venues.
“It's definitely been a journey, I've seen a lot of the state,” Dave says in relation to his recent treasure hunt, which unearthed such gems as a battle between two cobras and a mongoose.
“It’s been everything from antique and op shops to [Facebook Marketplace]. Or finding stuff from people's mums and driving out to farms in the middle of nowhere to pick up bales of rusted barbed wire, horseshoes and stuff like that.”
Dave sees these small artefacts as important in such large venues as a means of engaging patrons.
“The big thing we always try to capture with our venues is a sense of discovery,” he says. “It’s about people finding their way around the venue and finding different spaces.”
Dave talks about Wild West as being a vast collection of spaces: the bucking-bull saloon brings high energy and creates a theatrical experience yet shares the ground level with more subdued or intimate areas. Upstairs, the stage and pool tables are more akin to a Nashville dive bar, while the rooftop beer garden offers views over Footscray.
“You could probably have half a dozen different unique experiences here in one night,” he says. “If you just try to create the same space over and over, it gets monotonous. This means we get to flex our creative muscles here a bit and create that intimate experience within a huge space.”
Dave, who has enjoyed a long career in the local beer world, says he's relished the chance to work on such a creative project that gives them the chance to tap into the ethos that's infused Moon Dog since they launched their first madcap beers during the inaugural Good Beer Week in 2011: having fun with booze.
“There’s so much more fun to be had," he says. "It’s beer, it’s not a serious endeavour. We just want to create a space for people to have fun in.”
Moon Dog Wild West is at 54 Hopkins Street, Footscray. You can also find it alongside 1,300-plus good beer venues and breweries across Australia in the free Crafty Pint app, designed to help beer lovers find their nearest good beer wherever they are.
Will Ziebell is a history graduate who knows more about The Wire than he does about beer. He was awarded the AIBA Best Media trophy for 2018; HBO have told him to please send his fan mail elsewhere. He can be found on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
The beer(s) or moment(s) that turned you on to good beer:
Spending time living in the UK (and backpacking across Europe) when I was 21 certainly gave me a better understanding of the beer and different styles of the world. But I'd say it was a holiday to the High Country a little while later when lunch and a tasting paddle at Bridge Road Brewers created an obsession with Australian breweries and locally made beer.
You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?
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Boatrocker's Miss Pinky: It's a raspberry-packed Berliner Weisse that neither looks or tastes the way many people conceive of beer.
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Bad Shepherd Hazelnut Brown: A luscious mix of chocolate and hazelnut that can appeal to the sweet tooth within us all.
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Stone & Wood Pacific Ale: As the father of my oldest friend once said to me: "It's the perfect refreshing pint that smells like they've loaded it with the God's herb."
The last beer you enjoyed:
Garage Project's DFA while sitting at the bar at Miss Moses as the sounds of The Rolling Stone drifting in the background.
Three things that represent you:
- Bruce Springsteen
- Ken Burns
- The State Library of Victoria
