Wisconsin Brewery That Promised Free Beer When Trump Dies May Close Its Madison Taproom
The political fight surrounding Minocqua Brewing Company is now colliding with the business’s bottom line. Owner Kirk Bangstad says the company’s Madison taproom will likely close by the end of the year, after Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue moved to revoke the brewery’s alcohol permits.
According to Fox News, Madison station Channel 3000 first reported Bangstad’s admission. The East Washington Avenue lease expires at year’s end, he said, and he cannot keep paying the rent through a winter legal fight. Bangstad owns the Minocqua building and says that location can make it through the off-season. Madison, he says, cannot.
The closure is not final yet. The Department of Revenue told Fox News that an appeal hearing is scheduled for November 18. The agency also said the revocation will not take effect until the appeals process is complete. That means the taproom can continue operating while the legal dispute moves forward, even as its lease deadline gets closer.
The brewery says the state is targeting it because of its political views. State officials, however, allege that beer transported from Illinois entered Wisconsin without the required permits and tax payments. The brewery disputes that action. The fight now centers on both compliance and whether the permit decision was driven by enforcement or politics.
Bangstad’s political messaging helped set the stage for the controversy. In January, the brewery posted that it would serve “free beer, all day long the day he dies,” a message widely understood to refer to President Donald Trump. The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Bangstad’s Facebook post—now deleted—expressed outrage that the latest attempt on Trump’s life had not succeeded. Posts reportedly revived the same promotion with “we almost got #freebeerdays” and mocked the “marksmanship” of whoever tried to take out the President of the United States.
This was not Bangstad’s only political activity. The source reports that he previously founded the Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC and poured millions into Democratic politicians, judges, and liberal causes across Wisconsin. He also personally sued to keep Trump off the Wisconsin ballot in 2023 and 2024, filing complaints with the Wisconsin Elections Commission and taking the fight to court.
The permit dispute escalated in June, when state agents and local police inspected the brewery and seized cases of alcohol. The state said it had discussed compliance concerns with the company and its legal counsel for months. In July, The Gateway Pundit reported that Wisconsin had issued notices revoking permits for both the Minocqua and Madison locations, while allowing the company to operate during the appeal.
Now, the legal timeline and the business timeline are running side by side. Bangstad may keep operating while the appeal is pending, but he says the Madison lease could expire before the dispute is resolved. He says the Minocqua location can make it through the off-season, leaving the Madison taproom under the most immediate pressure.
For a brewery that made Trump’s death part of its public political branding, the possible loss of its Madison taproom marks a sharp turn. But the final outcome still depends on the November 18 hearing and the rest of the appeals process.
Read the original report at The Gateway Pundit.