Lake 11 Brewing to take over Main St. building

A planned craft brewery and tap room for downtown Medford took a step forward this week with the official announcement that Lake 11 Brewing will be taking over the current Dave’s Furniture Showcase building on Main Street.

According to Luke Gasek, owner of Lake 11 Brewing, if everything goes according to plan, they will have closing on the building around the beginning of the year and begin remodeling right away in January.

“I would like to thank Dave Slachetka for his many years of hard work for Medford. I am really excited for what the future holds with this great location,” Gasek said.

Gasek, who is in the process of getting his final certifi cations and licenses to run the brewery and tap room, said their goal is to open in Spring 2022. “My big thing is I don’t want to open and start to run out of beer right away,” Gasek said.

For now, Gasek and his brewmaster are working on refining recipes for the beers they plan to serve. He said they plan to have a range of beers ranging from porters to IPAs to lighter styles on tap with seasonal varieties and the small-batch specialty beers on occasion. A challenge is that he needs to get some additional permits in order to start building his inventory prior to opening so that he can meet demand.

Gasek is working with an interior designer for the layout and decor of the tap room. he said the plan is to have the front of the building space be where the serving area is with the brewing area being toward the back.

In addition to the serving tables, Gasek said they plan to have a variety of games for people to play while gathering and enjoying their beers. He said the plan is to slowly add things as they grow.

That portion of Main Street has plenty of street parking in the evening and weekends when Gasek anticipates having his biggest crowds. He also plans an entrance toward the rear of the building so that customers can access the large downtown parking lot to the east of Main Street.