Wisconsin regulators have pulled the operating permits for a brewery whose owner made repeated social media posts referencing President Trump's death, and the owner says he plans to fight the state in court.
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue issued a revocation notice stripping Minocqua Brewing Company of its Brewer's permits at two locations, one in Madison and one in the northern Wisconsin resort town of Minocqua, along with a separate Alcohol Beverage Warehouse permit. The revocation takes effect August 4 unless the brewery files an appeal, Fox News Digital reported.
The state's action follows a June seizure of canned beer from the company. Authorities alleged the beer had been transported from Illinois without the permits and taxes Wisconsin law requires. A Department of Revenue spokesperson said the agency "is required to follow and implement state law, including ensuring permit holders and licensees follow all applicable laws and regulations."
But the permit fight is only half the story. Minocqua Brewing Company and its owner, Kirk Bangstad, a self-described liberal activist who founded a political action committee and has used his brewery's social media pages to post incendiary commentary about the president, have drawn national attention for posts that go well beyond ordinary political speech.
On January 22, the brewery's Facebook page published a post that read: "Free beer, all day long the day he dies." A follow-up added: "Show us this post when it happens in a few months and we'll make good on that promise." The post did not use Trump's name, but the context, and the brewery's own clarification, left no ambiguity. A subsequent update specified locations: "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."
When a commenter apparently asked about the timeline, the brewery replied: "Well that's up to you and your ability to act like a cia [sic] agent."
That reply, suggesting a commenter's capacity to act as an intelligence operative in connection with the president's death, crossed a line that even the most generous reading of political satire struggles to excuse.
The posts did not stop in January. After a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in April, an event President Trump attended, the brewery posted again on Facebook.
"Well, we almost got #freebeerday," the post read. It continued:
"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. We'll never know. Regardless, we stand at the ready to pour free beer the day it happens."
Read that again. A business owner, responding to a real shooting at an event where the sitting president was present, publicly mused about whether "a brother or sister in the Resistance" needed better aim. He then reaffirmed his standing offer of free drinks to celebrate the president's death.
Bangstad has built his entire brand around opposition to Republicans. The brewery's own website states it "started making #progressivebeer after closing our brewpub because Donald Trump played politics with Covid-19 and Mitch McConnell let restaurants twist in the wind." He also founded the Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC, which, according to the brewery's site, "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." Federal Election Commission records list the committee under ID C00765529.
In a July 26 Substack newsletter to supporters, Bangstad announced the revocation and cast himself as a victim of government overreach. He wrote:
"As you can imagine, I'm not taking this lying down. 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 appealed for donations, writing that "every time this [happens], I rack up $100K in legal bills before we even see a judge." The phrasing, "every time", suggests this is not the first legal confrontation Bangstad has faced, though the details of prior challenges were not specified.
The New York Post reported that Bangstad has launched a legal defense fundraiser and confirmed the brewery retains the option to appeal before the August 4 effective date. The Department of Revenue outlined the process: an appeal goes first to the Secretary of Revenue, who assigns it to a hearing examiner for "proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law."
When Fox News Digital reached Bangstad for comment, he declined to address the substance of the revocation. Instead, he reportedly made jokes about the deaths of Trump and Mitch McConnell and directed disparaging remarks at Fox News. The exact content of those remarks was not published.
The Department of Revenue's official statement made no reference to the brewery's social media posts. The spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the Wisconsin Division of Alcohol Beverages "takes appropriate actions when these laws are not followed," and described the agency as "dedicated to the fair and consistent enforcement of alcohol beverages regulations in Wisconsin."
The stated basis for revocation is narrow: beer transported from Illinois without proper permits and taxes. That is a regulatory matter, and Bangstad will have his chance to contest it through the appeals process.
But the broader picture is harder to ignore. A brewery owner who has turned his business into a political weapon, complete with a registered SuperPAC, a branded line of "#progressivebeer," and social media posts openly celebrating the prospect of a sitting president's death, now faces the loss of his license to operate. Whether the state's enforcement action was routine or accelerated by the brewery's public profile is a question the revocation documents do not answer. The Department of Revenue did not say whether the social media posts played any role in the decision.
What is clear is the conduct itself. Bangstad did not merely criticize the president's policies. He did not simply run attack ads or fund opposition candidates. He posted, on a public business page, an offer of free beer upon the president's death. After a real shooting at a real event where the president was present, he speculated about whether someone in "the Resistance" needed to improve their marksmanship. And he kept the offer open.
Free speech protects a great deal of ugly commentary. It does not entitle anyone to a state-issued alcohol permit. And it does not shield a business owner from the consequences of treating political violence as a marketing opportunity.
Bangstad wants his supporters to see him as a folk hero fighting government persecution. The public record suggests something simpler: a man who confused recklessness with resistance, and is now surprised the state noticed.
