NOW EXPERIENCING:Moon Dog Wild West
Drinks Directory|Casual catch-up|Bar|Melbourne – West

Moon Dog Wild West

Wednesday: 3:00 – 11:00 PM
54 Hopkins Street, Footscray, VIC, 3011
Phone
(03) 9428 2307
Website
moondog.com.au
Instagram
@moondogwildwest

Read time 3 Mins

Posted 29 Jul 2024

By
Frank Sweet

The mechanical bull is a drawcard at Moon Dog Wild West

A colossal, buck-wild beer hall, this Moon Dog outpost has, as its name suggests, a Western spirit, slinging ace eats and brilliant brews, with the action centred on a mechanical bull.

Inside seating at Melbourne's Moon Dog Wild West
Why you goYou go because Patrick Swayze’s performance in the cult 1989 action film Road House awoke something in your soul that you haven't adequately explored. Maybe it’s your fondness for rowdy beer halls of extraordinary size. Perhaps it’s your hunger for jalapeño poppers and Buffalo-flavoured everything. Or maybe, just maybe, you have a score to settle – and you might as well settle it with a mechanical bull while a gaggle of Footscray sorts hoot and holler from over the way. Abbotsford beer heroes Moon Dog have never been afraid of jumping the shark – they name their annual limited-release imperial stout after that very feat. But with Moon Dog Wild West, a three-storey colossus built on a celebrity furniture graveyard, they have attempted to traverse the Grand Canyon on an Acme rocket while strafing laser attacks from cyborg megalodons. Do they stick the landing?
Why you stayThe bull – the one that’s thrashing about at the dead centre of this hootenanny – is free again, and to this point you’ve only lasted eight seconds riding it. So, you sign the medical waiver once more and you get back on that rusty cow. Buck as it might, this time you’ve got its number. You are the Moon Dog Wild West mechanical bull champion of the night and, judging by the cheering, the crowd knows it. You high-five your way through to the games area where you clock high scores on Big Buck Hunter, Street Fighter II, and all three pinball machines before turning your attention to one of the coolest table games you’ve ever seen: Pong. Only it’s a mechanical, magnetic version and it takes your breath away. Seriously – it’s amazing. Next, you head upstairs and simultaneously challenge each pool table – there are three – to a game of stick. You win them all, naturally, and head to the other side of the room to catch a li’l live music on the stage. It’s called Bob’s Country Bunker, and it’s wrapped in chicken wire to keep the riff-raff out in the most literal hat tip to Road House yet. From there, you follow the neon signs up to the rooftop bar for a little stargazing and shoot a wink at the pale moon above.
Pool tables at Moon Dog Wild West in Footscray, Melbourne
The bar and beer taps at Moon Dog Wild West in Melbourne
What drink to orderBeer, you’d have thought. A Roadie Draught for the Carlton drinkers, the Hazy IPA for the hopheads, maybe something called a Timothy Tamothy Slamothy – a double-chocolate-biscuit milk stout – for the legends in the crowd. It’s easy to forget in this gun-slingin’ knees-up that Moon Dog is first and foremost a brewery – and a very good one at that. But maybe you’re after something a little zippier, like one of the Dog’s wildly popular seltzers. That said, it’d be rude not to shoot a Pickleback – whisky and pickle juice – in a joint like this. And if you’ve got adequate back-up, you’d have to be looking at one of them fancy cocktail jugs you’ve heard so much about, like the Catfish Blues – a big ol’ jug of blue drink loaded with tequila, mezcal, passionfruit, lime and Blue Curaçao ($90). Then again, it might also be a Layered Tequila Sunrise Slushie, or – heaven forbid – it could even be a garden-variety glass of wine.
What to pair it withIf you’re here for the bull, stay off the Tim Tam beers. If you’re here for the general cheer, the Johnny Cash on the speakers, the Friday night footy (AFL, of course) on the box, then hook into a Buffalo chicken sandwich – a thick thigh piece fried crisp and covered in Buffalo sauce at its centre, along with pickles and slaw, all packed into a soft bun. That comes with fries, but if you’ve really got the munchies, plump for the jalapeño poppers and plunge them into the Dog’s herbalicious ranch sauce. There are parmas, including a vegan one, there are tacos, there are hot dogs for the tykes. There are wedges of lettuce, too, if you must. 
A selection of dishes at Moon Dog Wild West
The rooftop at Moon Dog Wild West
Why we love itThere’s simply nothing like it in... Australia? The southern hemisphere? Where else are you drinking from a brilliant, utterly singular line-up of locally brewed craft beers while watching old mate being bucked into next Sunday to the tune of a little live music? You might file it under “for fans of Preston’s excellent bowling alley bar, The Keys”, but this is a whole new level of deranged merrymaking, and it gets a perfect 10 yeehaws from us. Safe journey to the edge of the canyon, Moon Dog, you son of a gun, you.
Who to takeWile E Coyote. Butch Cassidy. Dolly Parton. Ennio Morricone. Bob Katter. Queens of the Stone Age. Lil Nas X. Clint Eastwood. A group of friends. A date who likes messy food and wacky action.
Sponsor logo
In partnership with Melbourne Food & Wine Festival
image credits: Arianna Leggiero
Authour image
Frank SweetFrank Sweet is a Melbourne-based food and drink writer and a former editor of Time Out Beijing.
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Drinks DirectoryGood for groupsBrewery or DistilleryRecently openedCasual catch-upMelbourneBrilliant beer listMelbourne – WestVego Food OptionsParty vibesRooftopAfter work drinksBar
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