Wisconsin brewery that offered ‘free beer’ when Trump dies says alcohol permit revoked
A Wisconsin brewery known for anti-Trump social media posts, including one promising a free beer promotion upon the death of President Donald Trump, has had its permit to operate in the state revoked by state officials.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday that liberal activist and brewery owner Kirk Bangstad is "vowing to fight ‘tooth and nail’ after receiving a letter from the state's Department of Revenue revoking Minocqua Brewing Co.'s permit to operate in Wisconsin, according to a July 26 newsletter sent to his supporters."
"As you can imagine, I’m not taking this lying down," Bangstad wrote in a Substack post on Sunday. "We’re going to fight the state of Wisconsin tooth and nail, and once again, they’ll have to pry me out of my taprooms before I stop selling beer to thirsty progressives who come to visit us."
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He also asked readers to donate to his legal defense fund, writing, "As usual, fighting to keep my business alive means I have to pay lawyers, and that’s never cheap. Every time this [happens], I rack up $100K in legal bills before we even see a judge. If you can help chip in to the Minocqua Company’s legal defense fund, I’d really appreciate it."
The revocation of the beer license goes into effect on Aug. 4, the Sentinel reported. The business has locations in Madison and Minocqua.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Revenue said, "The Wisconsin Division of Alcohol Beverages is dedicated to the fair and consistent enforcement of alcohol beverages regulations in Wisconsin. The division is required to follow and implement state law, including ensuring permit holders and licensees follow all applicable laws and regulations. The division takes appropriate actions when these laws are not followed."
The spokesperson added, "We can confirm that the Department of Revenue has issued notice of a Brewer's permit revocation for two Minocqua Brewing Company locations and notice of an Alcohol Beverage Warehouse permit revocation for one location. The business has until August 4th to appeal and can operate during the appeal process. Should the business decide to appeal, the next step would be to appeal to the Secretary of the Department of Revenue, who will assign the appeal to a Department of Revenue hearing examiner for their recommendations as to proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law."
The Sentinel reported that state regulators pursued revoking Bangstad's alcohol license after authorities seized canned beer from his company in June, alleging it had been transported from Illinois without the required permits and taxes. The newspaper also reported that Bangstad criticized the proposed action as an excessive response, arguing the alleged tax violations did not warrant shutting down his business.
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On Jan. 22, the Minocqua Brewing Company appeared to suggest it would give free beer to patrons if Trump was killed, and while not explicitly using his name, posted on Facebook, "Free beer, all day long the day he dies."
The post continued, "Show us this post when it happens in a few months and we’ll make good on that promise."
The post was updated to say, "we meant the Madison Taproom because that’s open all year, if he dies in the summer, then it’s gonna be the Minocqua Taproom."
In reply to comment on the post, the company also did not refer to Trump by name but said that the post hinted at a high-profile figure when asked whether the timeline for the deal could be moved up earlier.
"Well that's up to you and your ability to act like a cia [sic] agent," the company wrote.
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Following the April shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner where Trump was present, the company wrote on Facebook, "Well, we almost got #freebeerday."
"Either a brother or sister in the Resistance needs to work on their marksmanship or he faked another assassination to get a positive news cycle," the post added. "We’ll never know. Regardless, we stand at the ready to pour free beer the day it happens."
Bangstad, the owner of the brewery, is also the founder of the Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC, which "aims to remove Republican federal and state elected officials who perpetuated the election lies that caused the Insurrection of January 6, 2021, and whose downplaying of the seriousness of COVID-19 caused so many unnecessary deaths in our country," according to the brewery’s website.
Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, Bangstad declined to comment directly but made jokes about the deaths of Trump and Mitch McConnell and made disparaging remarks about Fox.
