photo: very old royalty-free disk of stock photos that we have 

This is a generic image of a beer that we're using to hold down the story while Robert Strom drives to Michigan to take a photo of his real beer.

If you’re keeping track of all the new brewing operations sudsing up around town, add to your list Moxee (724 W. Maxwell St., 312-243-3660), a restaurant scheduled to open near UIC late this summer with a small house-brewing operation. (Also, if you’re keeping track of all the new brewing operations, you should really just stop before you make yourself crazy.)

Moxee, named for the Yakima Valley, Washington, “hops capital of the world” Moxee City, is a project of the partnership that owns Prairie Moon in Evanston and Wheatberry in Buchanan, Michigan. “We are going to be doing as much local stuff as we can,” says Robert Strom, a partner. “We have a lot of farmer friends in the area of Michigan where we work.”

The regional American menu will draw from a smokehouse down the street that will produce meats like pastrami and bacon. The in-house brewery, called Mad Mouse Brewing, will truly be micro, brewed on a less-than-four-barrel system and available only in the restaurant.

The 120-seat space—an additional 50 outdoor seats are planned for later—will be decorated with reclaimed barn wood that also comes from Michigan. They’re really milking that Michigan connection—hopefully they’re sending Italian beef and Malört in the other direction.