Dana Dufek
The crew behind the new King Street venture, with Tom Dufek (center).
Tom Dufek, former bartender at Merchant and Lucille and a founder of Plain Spoke Cocktail Co., is a partner in two new ventures coming to 110 King St: a brewpub, that will be located on the first floor, and a tasting room for Plain Spoke that will occupy the second story.
“The building is in such a historic part of Madison that we wanted to pay homage to that by embracing that history in our design,” says Dufek. Designers are opening up the space of the former Ancora on King Street (the coffee shop moved across the street): “We gutted everything and are removing part of the floor,” says Dufek. Beer production will be in the basement and glass panels will allow patrons to see the workings from the first floor. Tanks will protrude up into the first floor. “It will be a cool thing for people to interact with,” says Dufek. “While drinking a beer, you’ll be looking down into the brewing space where everything is happening.”
Plain Spoke, which makes “a more authentic canned cocktail,” as Dufek puts it, one that uses high quality, local ingredients, has a production facility in Sun Prairie, but “it’s at the end of a dead end road in the middle of nowhere,” says Dufek.
He’s been looking for a more accessible tasting room over the last year. The Plain Spoke Tasting Room will be a place for the company “to innovate, to test things we want to bring to market,” says Dufek. Plans are for the tasting room to serve both draft cocktails and special originals. Requested cocktails can be made from scratch, as well.
The Young Blood Beer Company will be a small brewpub, making beer on a 10-barrel system and serving only its own beers. The brewmaster will be Kyle Gregorash, formerly of Hacienda Beer Co. and Door County Brewing Co. “He’ll make awesome beer, but that won’t be where the experience will end,” says Dufek. Food will be limited to some snacks on the order of global street food, he adds. “We’re not going to be serving generic pub food. There’s a lot of food being served in the area already.”
The emphasis at both Young Blood and the Plain Spoke tasting room will be hospitality, says Dufek. That is important in the heart of the city, to create “a hub and a gathering place for community, that’s what we’re focused on.”
Dufek has different partners in the cocktail company and the brewery. Though the facilities will be in the same building, they will have separate doors.
Both Young Blood and Plain Spoke will be serving only products they themselves make, so neither would need a Madison class B liquor license. “We’ve had conversations with the city and zoning and Ald. Verveer and everything has been positive,” says Dufek. Young Blood will seat about 60; Plain Spoke about 50. He is hoping for a mid-April to early May opening.
