A Wisconsin brewery that offered free beer the day President Trump dies now faces likely closure of its Madison taproom after the state revoked its alcohol permits.
Owner Kirk Bangstad said this week that Minocqua Brewing Co.’s year-round Madison location will likely close by year’s end while the company fights the state’s decision, Fox News reported.
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue revoked the firm’s brewing permits for both the Madison and Minocqua sites after alleging the company moved beer in from Illinois without the required permits and tax payments. The brewery disputes the action and claims officials targeted it over politics.
Revenue officials told Fox News Digital that a hearing on the company’s appeal is set for Nov. 18. The revocation does not take effect until the appeals process finishes.
In a statement to the outlet, the department framed the case as routine enforcement.
Wisconsin Department of Revenue said:
"DOR is dedicated to fair and consistent enforcement of alcohol beverage regulations in Wisconsin and takes action when the laws are not followed, as occurred here."
Bangstad’s side has pushed back hard. The brewery accused state officials of going after the business because of its political views. That claim remains an allegation from the company, not a finding established in the reporting.
Channel 3000 carried Bangstad’s warning that the Madison taproom is likely finished by the end of the year if the fight continues on its current path.
Long before the permit fight, Minocqua Brewing built a brand around open hostility to Republicans and President Trump.
On Jan. 22, the company posted on Facebook: "Free beer, all day long the day he dies." It added, "Show us this post when it happens in a few months and we’ll make good on that promise."
A later update clarified the offer: "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 a reply thread, the company did not name Trump directly. It said the message referred to a high-profile figure when asked whether the timeline could be moved up.
After an April shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where Trump was present, the brewery posted again: "Well, we almost got #freebeerday."
When Fox News Digital reached the company for comment on the permit story, the brewery repeated the #freebeerday pledge for when the president passes and added another line: "Reminder, however, no red hats allowed."
Trump was not the only target. On Instagram, the brewery posted a half-price promotion tied to Sen. Mitch McConnell, the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican.
The post read: "When they announce that McConnell’s Faustian dance has finally ended, we’re gonna start serving our beer at ‘half price,’ because we promised #halfpricebeerday on the day they unplug the ventilator."
McConnell had been absent from the Senate for months after a fall at home earlier this year. He returned last week ahead of key votes.
Bangstad also founded the Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC. The brewery’s own website says the SuperPAC "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."
Alcohol regulation in Wisconsin is not optional. Shipping product across state lines without permits and unpaid taxes is the kind of violation revenue departments exist to catch. The DOR says that is what happened here. The brewery says politics drove the case. An appeal hearing will test those claims on the record.
What is already on the record is the marketing. Free beer on the day a sitting president dies. Half-price pours the day a senator comes off life support. A "no red hats" door policy. A SuperPAC built to purge Republicans. That is the public face Bangstad chose for a regulated liquor business in a purple state.
Customers can boycott or belly up. Regulators still collect taxes and enforce permits. The Madison taproom’s fate now hangs on an appeals calendar and a business model that treated political death as a happy hour special.
Ghoulish politics may sell a few pints to the base. It does not revise the tax code, and it does not freeze a revocation while the invoices and shipping records get sorted out.
