Moxee Restaurant On Maxwell Street Has Moxie And House Brewed Beer

• Julia Thiel
• The brewing equipment, with ghostly reflections from the dining-room chandeliers

University Village’s Moxee Restaurant has included Mad Mouse Brewery since it first opened last May—and the restaurant is named for Moxee City, Washington, the “hops capital of the world”—but until recently the house beers have been brewed in collaboration with Michigan’s Saugatuck Brewing up at the Saugatuck facility. In December, though, Mad Mouse finally got its license, and the shiny brewing equipment that sits behind large windows on one wall of the restaurant became more than just decoration. The first beer they’ve brewed onsite is Aunt Bootsy, a nice spicy rye IPA that tastes quite bitter at first but mellows out nicely as it warms up. I preferred it to the Schnickelfritz kolsch, a collaboration with Saugatuck that’s light and dry but slightly astringent. Both beers, while fairly unremarkable, pair well with food—which is important, since the restaurant’s food is remarkable. If you want a more interesting beer, there are several good options among the 20 on tap (plus several in cans and bottles, as well as a few cocktails).