The Wisconsin Department of Revenue said Minocqua Brewing Company will lose its alcohol permit on Aug. 4, putting Kirk Bangstad’s business on a deadline to keep selling beer while he fights the state. Bangstad, who owns the brewery, said he intends to challenge the decision and called it heavy-handed.
The move follows a June raid in which state officials seized canned beer from Bangstad’s company and alleged it had been brought into Wisconsin from Illinois without the required permits and taxes. That is the specific compliance issue behind the revocation: not just the seizure itself, but the state’s view that the beer moved across state lines without the licensing and tax paperwork the law requires.
Bangstad has made clear he is not backing down. In a newsletter on July 26, he asked supporters to contribute to a legal defense fund and said, “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.” He also called the revocation “heavy-handed.”
The timing matters because this permit fight lands about three months after FBI agents interviewed Bangstad over a social media post that appeared to reference an alleged assassination attempt against Donald Trump after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25. In the post from the brewery’s account, Bangstad wrote, “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.” Video later posted by Bangstad showed agents questioning him and his attorney about the comment, and both said they neither planned nor wished harm on Trump or JD Vance.
The Wisconsin Division of Alcohol Beverages said it is dedicated to the fair and consistent enforcement of alcohol beverages regulations in Wisconsin and is required to follow and implement state law. Bangstad has frequently mixed political activism with his brewery business, and this permit fight is only the latest chapter in a dispute with state regulators that has played out in courtrooms, government offices and public view for years. For now, the next move belongs to Bangstad: he says he will challenge the revocation in court as state officials move ahead with pulling the permit.
