Brewvine: “Ales By The Rails” at The Filling Station

For this week’s Brewvine, Bill Froehlich and photojournalist Jeremy Erickson are taking us to a brewery that’s always on the right side of the tracks, and has some great food and beer to choose from.

We’re checking out what’s on tap for summer at in Traverse City.

“I really want people to kind of feel like, hey, The Filling Station is a spot that we can count on to provide something for everybody in a fun, enjoyable atmosphere that everybody feels safe and is easy to access,” said Todd Klepper, co-owner and general manager at The Filling Station.

It’s location along the Tart Trail makes The Filling Station a great place to stop and enjoy a cold beer and great food after a nice walk or bike ride by the Boardman.

The brewery is also looking to expand their already amazing outdoor area.

“We love our outdoor space,” said Klepper. “We really feel like it’s a kind of comfortable space for everybody, families and the like, to hang out. But what we want to do is offer a little more space to kind of get back to a more communal area where people can just kind of come and go and enjoy a beverage with a friend and not necessarily wait in line for a table, but also to offer a private area for parties and birthdays and the like.”

No matter the occasion, The Filling Station has plenty of your favorite “ales by the rails” to choose from, including some new releases and summer favorites that will be hitting the taps very soon.

“We do have a delicious new kind of California style double IPA that has great flavor, but it drinks a little bit lighter with it,” says Klepper. “Kind of a nice hop balance to the malty sweetness. We’re going to continue to kind of offer the mainstays that people have grown to love, but also to mix in some new, fun stuff in terms of some new sours and some new varieties that maybe we haven’t offered on the menu. But we try to make sure that there are some thirst quenching summer offerings in the Mango Kolsh, and some of the other summer favorites are already starting to hit the menu.”

Klepper continued, “But we’re also looking forward to maybe doing some even smaller batch offerings in conjunction with some of the other places like Iron Fish around town that we can kind of offer some unique and different flavor profiles that I think what people are going to be really excited about.”