Liquor store, neighboring taphouse complement each other respectively

Cheryl Hentz

Contributor

September 1, 2025

THREE LAKES – Located at 1801 Superior St., The Supply Station is Three Lakes’ sole liquor store and has been a community fixture for more than a century. 

At the helm of the community staple is Dan and Gina Stehl, who purchased the store in September 2020.

The couple said they changed the name to The Supply Station to pay homage to the supply station the town established for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad in the 1900s.

“The store had a rather generic name before we took over, like White Deer Liquor, or something like that,” Gina said. “There are a lot of deer names up here, so we wanted something that would stand out, as well as something that would reflect the community and pay homage to the history of the town. Changing it to The Supply Station did that.”

The building, Gina said, is kind of like living history.

“We’re really proud to carry on that [liquor store] tradition,” she said. “I don’t think there are very many small towns that still have a liquor store – a lot of them have closed up.”

With plans to eventually expand, the Stehls said they purchased the adjoining property at 1803 Superior St., and three years later, opened The Brew Station, a taphouse.

Buying a liquor store during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Stehls said, proved to be very advantageous, as the store was considered an essential business, meaning they could remain open.

With bars closed during that time, Gina said The Supply Station saw a surge in business as people bought their favorite drinks to enjoy at home.

Mission of The Supply Station

Given the store’s small interior, Gina and Dan said when they took over, they reconfigured the layout and installed additional shelving to accommodate a wider selection of products.

Gina said The Supply Station’s mission is “to provide the largest selection of beer, wine and spirits to the folks who live and play on the largest freshwater chain of lakes in the world.”

Among those offerings, she said, is bourbon, and a lot of it – more than 50 kinds.

“Bourbon was really booming [a few years ago], so we made a big investment into bourbon,” she said. “We went all in on it, [and] it has really paid off.”

Though its popularity is starting to wane just a little bit, Gina said there is still a lot of demand for bourbon. 

“Bourbon was popular at one time, but it fell off the map when people were going to lighter spirits, like gin and other clearer spirits,” she said. “Then a new generation came up, and they didn’t want to drink what their parents drank, so they went back to bourbon.”

With bourbon’s growing popularity and their own investment in it, the Stehls said they attended Moonshine University in Louisville, Kentucky, last November to deepen their understanding of the spirit and the industry.

Gina said Moonshine University is the only school officially recognized by the Kentucky Distillers Association.

As a result of that training, the Stehls said they are now Certified Bourbon Stewards, receiving that certification through the prestigious Staves and Thieves Society.

On top of that, Gina said Dan is locally considered to be the area’s bourbon expert.  

The Brew Station, she said, now hosts monthly bourbon tasting events in partnership with The Supply Station.

“Our next tasting is Sept. 13 – “Don’t Call Me Bourbon: A Tennessee Whiskey Experience” – where we will delve into the Lincoln County Process that gives Tennessee whiskey its signature smoothness,” she said.

A natural companion business

Dan and Gina said when they first saw the Superior Street properties, they checked all the boxes for the vision they had in mind.

Almost immediately after opening The Supply Station, Gina said work began on creating The Brew Station. 

Doing most of the work themselves, the couple said they gutted the two apartments – taking them right down to the studs, even removing the old, blown-in insulation from the ceiling.  

Gina said her nephew came up from Colorado to help them with the rehab, with her sister joining the project later to help with drywalling. 

With the help of Dan’s father, who is an electrician, Gina said they redid the electrical wiring to make sure the building was up to code and safe. 

Gina said the building’s plumbing was also completely redone – which was about the only thing they hired out. 

The Brew Station opened in July 2022, and the couple said it has been a hit with the community and visitors alike ever since.

“We started with just a beer and wine license,” she said. “We later got a full liquor license, but we don’t do mixed drinks. We got the full license so we could serve bourbon.”

Gina said The Brew Station has 10 rotating craft beer taps featuring regional beers.

“We do bourbon by one- and two-ounce pours and have more than 50 bourbons people can choose from,” she said. “We also serve high-end tequila. We try to keep up with the trends and have what people want. Tequila is on the rise right now, and people want that ‘sipping’ tequila, so this summer, we started offering pours of tequila.”

Gina said they also started offering weekly signature cocktails this summer, something they plan to do only seasonally.

“One week, we might do a Cranberry Mule, [and] another week we might do a margarita, or something like that,” she said. 

Gina said The Brew Station’s signature drink is definitely a beer, and the No. 1 seller. 

“The No. 1 seller of beer at both The Supply Station and The Brew Station is Blueberry Train from Tribute Brewing Company in Eagle River,” she said.

Blueberry Train Wheat, she said, is a wheat ale with added natural blueberry flavor and pays tribute to the train that carried wild blueberries from Conover to Chicago in the early 1900s.

“Like blueberries, it’s very refreshing,” she said. “People who don’t necessarily like beer, like Blueberry Train.”

Also new this summer, Gina said, is a signature beer for the community, something Dan was instrumental in getting started. 

“We’re part of the Three Lakes Tavern League,” she said. “Dan spearheaded Three Lakes having its own beer this summer. So, in collaboration with the Three Lake Tavern League and Fox River Brewing from Oshkosh, which brews it for us, we now have Welcome to Three Lakes – Drink Like a Local Golden Ale as the official Three Lakes beer. It has become very popular… It’s lower in ABV, and it’s very light and refreshing. It’s one of my favorites, actually.”

Offseason challenges

The Stehls said there are three distinct groups of clientele: the vacationers; the seasonal folks who own property up there and come for a month, just on weekends, or all summer; and then the locals who are there year-round.

“It can be challenging to try engaging all those groups,” she said. “A lot of businesses, I think, try to just focus on the vacationers. There’s nothing really wrong with that, but in Three Lakes, we really have a core group of locals who support us, and we don’t want to forget them.” 

July and August, Gina said, are their biggest months of the year.

After that, she said business starts to fall off a bit – with another big pick-up around the holidays, that then falls off again. 

“We’re supposed to be the snow capital of the world, but the last two winters, we’ve not seen any snow up here – so, that kind of hits the business, because we don’t have as many tourists coming up,” she said. “If we get snow this winter, we’ll see a big uptick for snowmobile season, and then around March and April, it just drops.”

So much so that, like many local businesses, Gina said they close both businesses during April.

She said the month off gives them a chance to recharge their batteries. 

“Both businesses have their ups and downs, like most businesses do,” she said. “During those less busy times, you start wondering what you can do to bring in business and keep customers engaged.”

Adding game nights, Gina said, has addressed that a little bit.

“I think we were the first bar in our area to do an ongoing game night,” she said.

Held from 7-9 p.m. every Thursday, Gina said Game Night features a variety of games, like trivia, bingo, music bingo and Brew Feud – their take on “Family Feud.” 

“It’s become very popular, and it keeps people engaged and coming in all winter, especially when there’s no snow,” she said. “There’s nothing to do up here, because you don’t have the vacationers or the snowmobilers coming up here [when there is no snow].”

Patio makeover

When the Stehls purchased the property – which has an indoor capacity of 40 people – they said there was an existing outdoor patio area, but they envisioned creating a more welcoming and comfortable space for guests.

To help accomplish those plans, the Stehls said they submitted their proposal to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s annual Main Street Place-Makeover contest.

The couple said submissions were judged on business impact, downtown visual appeal and project feasibility – and in 2023, The Brew Station was selected as the contest winner, receiving design assistance and $5,000 to develop its outdoor patio space.

The new beer garden – which Gina said is affectionately called the Brewtanical Garden – officially opened last May and can accommodate 30-40 people, who are welcome to bring their well-behaved canines. 

“We created it to be very community-oriented – a place where people can gather and have a good time,” she said.

Other summer offerings

Always looking for new ways to draw in customers, the Stehls began hosting food trucks on special holidays in 2023 – a move that Gina said was so well-received that they expanded it to a weekly feature last summer.

“We try not to compete with our local restaurants,” she said. “We bring in one food truck each week, and we try to make it something you can’t find in Three Lakes.”

Throughout June, July and August, Gina said food trucks are on site from 3-8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Following the success of last summer’s trial run of live music on select evenings, Gina said, The Brew Station continues to feature local or regional artists playing everything from folk music to pop to soft rock to soul.

Furthermore, the Stehls said they host a Bogside Bash on the first Saturday in October and a Bock Fest on the first Saturday in April.

Looking ahead, the Stehls said the hope is that The Supply Station and The Brew Station will continue to serve as community hubs.

“We’re part of the community and the community life,” she said, “and we love that.”

Visit 3lakessupplystation.com and 3lakesbrewstation.com for more.