USA, OH: Eleventhree Brewing Co. targeting summer opening date

If it wasn’t for a typo, Dave and Chelsea Wickman might have started Eleventhree Brewing Co. in another part of Northeast Ohio, Cleveland.com reported on May 29.

The couple had sought a location for about five years. One night, Dave was scouting a place for dinner online.

“This popped up accidentally,” he said. “I was on Facebook trying to look for specials at one of the restaurants downtown. I mistyped the URL and went to Marketplace for whatever reason. “A 1,600-square-foot warehouse space in Chardon, Ohio.” I was, ‘Wait, what? You’ve got to be kidding me.’ "

They had met with “tons of property owners and landlords,” Chelsea said. “We wanted Chardon, but there just really wasn’t anything available for what we were looking for.”

Boutique spaces on the square were too small to accommodate brewing equipment. And 5,000-square-foot warehouses were too big for a start-up brewery. But the 1,600 square-foot spot on Cherry Avenue was perfect for them.

Target opening date is this summer. The couple is in the final stages – waiting on permits, installing taps and lining up food trucks.

An eight-seat bar is crafted from old gym-floor pieces from a central Ohio school. The reclaimed wood came from Old School Salvage in Cleveland, as did bathroom doors.

It’s hard to envision the space in its previous incarnation as a garage. Tastefully designed with minimalistic décor, the brewery can accommodate 50 people at several tables and the bar.

“It was a wide-open space with no interior walls,” Chelsea said.

They redid the concrete and drainage and added bathrooms, Dave said.

But the coolest, and creatively unique piece, is the beer-menu board. Designed to resemble schedules from old train stations in Europe, the letters flip, even making the soft, trilling-clicking sound. And there’s a modern touch to its retro feel: The board’s messages can be controlled via smart phones. Colors can be changed to represent holidays like Cinco de Mayo. And they can flash Spotify song titles before flipping back to the beer menu.

Everybody does TV scrolling or chalk patterns, Chelsea said. But the couple wanted something different.

“What kind of nostalgia can we bring to this?” Dave said.

The couple, who met in 2009, is from Lake County originally. The moved to Chardon in 2019. Chelsea attended Riverside High School in Painesville while Dave went to Mentor Christian and studied business at Cleveland State University. Chelsea owns a hair salon in Fairport Harbor. Dave is retaining his day job as a software-development manager.

And while brewery owners name themselves in creative, sometimes impish or other ways, Eleventhree holds a special meaning: The number 11 just kept appearing in their lives.

“11 was our sports number,” Chelsea said. “We had old t-shirts, an 11 jersey or whatever we wore. It would just keep coming up. We would go to dinner, and we would be seated at table 11. Or we’d go to a concert and be at seat 11 or row 11. Our daughter was born in 2011. We were just at a wedding a few months ago and we had to find our table. Lo and behold we were at table 11. It’s just kind of a cool thing. And three is for our three kids.”

It’s also part of the address – 211 Cherry Avenue - where Dave will be brewing on a five-barrel system.

It’s Dave’s first professional brewing gig; he home-brewed for 14 years, starting with a rudimentary system using five-gallon buckets. The hobby “kept growing and growing and growing,” he said. It led to a more elaborate system, and now he is planning to have 11 tap handles.

“Instead of flagship offerings, we’re going to have core styles of beer,” he said.

Expect lagers, a big stout, sours and multiple India Pale Ales – Double Dry Hopped, New England, West Coast.

“Everybody seems to love the IPA train,” he said.

A to-go cooler will offer their beers in pint cans, with two can releases weekly. Flights will be available, but no growlers or crowlers.

They are seeking approval for a patio and would love to create a beer garden out back where, as Chelsea says: “It’s beautiful. The sun sets this way.”

“It’s kind of cool we’re going to work together,” she said. “I’m excited. It will be fun.”

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