Lake 11 Brewing opens in downtown Medford

After more than two years of planning, Luke Gasek’s dream of opening a craft brewery in downtown Medford has become a reality.

Lake 11 Brewing will officially open its doors on Friday, Nov. 11 at its Main Street location with several different styles of craft beer on tap. The craft brewery, which produces all its beer in-house, offers a range of styles including an IPA, a schwarzbier, a blonde ale and a cherry wheat. For those who don’t care for beer, he also offers Point Rootbeer on tap.

One of the appeals of craft breweries is that the brewing is done in comparatively small batches and the variety of beers available will change on a regular basis reflecting the seasons and the creativity of the brewmaster.

Gasek’s goal in opening Lake 11 was to bring high quality craft beer to Medford while also serving as a downtown anchor. The brewery is named after Lake 11 in Taylor County and a mural of the lake shore is on the rear of the building.

Since finalizing the purchase of the former Dave’s Showcase building last winter, Gasek has been hard at work renovating and remodeling the space. His vision in designing the space was to keep flexibility with arranging seating areas while keeping the concept open, using lighting and arrangement of chairs as the way to break the much larger space into smaller, more intimate areas.

One of the things that he said people have been surprised about was just how much space there is in the building.

Gasek did a soft opening under a temporary permit during the Harvest Days weekend. He said at one point he estimated about 100 people were in the building, but it never felt too crowded with groups able to hold their own conversations without needing to shout.

The space also offers the opportunities for special events to be held, including the idea of holding an indoor beanbag tournament.

According to Gasek the opening the evening of the Adult Trick-or-Treating was a good opportunity to work out some of the kinks in the system with his staff so that things go smoothly in the future.

While Gasek is partial to his IPA, he said the most popular style so far has been the blonde ale, which is a lighter style of beer.

Because of the time it takes between starting a batch of beer and when it is ready, craft breweries work to keep enough volume on hand to keep up with demand. Gasek explained that when he received his final licenses from the state allowing him to brew commercially, he began working to build up that inventory and will continue to do so over time, adding different varieties and styles of beer to the menu of offerings.

Brewing at Lake 11 is done by Adam Pfefferle and by Gasek. Pfefferle was born in Medford, though he moved away as a child and currently lives in Appleton when he isn’t driving to Medford to brew beer. He’s been a home brewer since 2006 and has participated in various brewing classes both online and in person in Milwaukee. Interests include family road trips, maps, beer, tacos, and cheering on state sports teams.

Gasek is the owner and developer for Lake 11 Brewing. He grew up in Medford and moved to Alaska after graduating from the UW-Stevens Point. Gasek traveled all over the state conducting wetland delineations and hiking over hundreds of miles of wilderness. After twelve years in Alaska, he moved back in May 2020 and started brewing and preparing recipes with Pfefferle. Gasek completed a brewing certificate program from the University of South Florida Brewing Arts Program which is recognized by the Master Brewers Association of the Americas. He completed this certificate program in December 2021. Gasek is an active outdoorsman who can be found fishing, hiking, skiing and cycling year round.

While Gasek plans to offer popcorn or other types of snacks in the future, he said they are not planning to offer any food for sale. He said people who want to eat while enjoying their beer are welcome to bring in their own takeout or delivery with the request that they do not bring in styrofoam containers due to both the volume of waste this causes and a desire to be environmentally aware.

Gasek said he is looking to work with food truck operators to bring in food trucks on a regular basis and is also looking to work with area community and civic groups to do brat and burger sales on Main Street as fundraisers.