Wisconsin regulators pulled the operating permits for a brewery whose owner built his brand around anti-Trump provocation, and the stated reason has nothing to do with politics.

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue issued a revocation notice covering Minocqua Brewing Company's Brewer's permits at two locations, one in Madison, one in the northern Wisconsin resort town of Minocqua, along with an Alcohol Beverage Warehouse permit at a third site. The revocation takes effect August 4. Owner Kirk Bangstad, a self-described liberal activist who runs a political action committee dedicated to unseating Republicans, says he will fight the state and has launched a legal defense fundraiser, telling supporters each regulatory battle costs him roughly $100,000 in legal fees before a case reaches a judge.

The permit action follows a June seizure of canned beer from the company. State authorities alleged Bangstad had transported the product from Illinois without obtaining the required permits or paying applicable taxes. The Wisconsin Division of Alcohol Beverages, the enforcement arm of the Department of Revenue, framed the revocation as routine regulatory work, not a political act.

A department spokesperson told Fox News Digital:

"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."

Bangstad can still sell beer while an appeal is pending. If he files before the August 4 deadline, the case moves to the Secretary of the Department of Revenue, who assigns it to a hearing examiner for proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The brewery stays open until that process plays out.

Bangstad built a brand on wishing a president dead

The permit fight might be a dry regulatory matter on paper. But Minocqua Brewing Company is not a typical small-batch operation. Bangstad has spent years turning his taprooms into outposts of progressive political activism, complete with a Super PAC that raised more than $1 million during the 2022 campaign cycle to target Republican candidates. He ran for office as a Democrat. He named beers after Democratic politicians, including Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and Senator Tammy Baldwin.

And on January 22, his brewery's official Facebook account posted a message that drew national attention: "Free beer, all day long the day he dies." The post did not use President Trump's name, but the context left little doubt. A follow-up comment told readers: "Show us this post when it happens in a few months and we'll make good on that promise."

An update to the post clarified logistics: "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 one commenter apparently raised the question of how that death might come about, the brewery replied: "Well that's up to you and your ability to act like a cia [sic] agent."

Read that again. A business owner, on a public company page, responded to a question about a sitting president's death by referencing the CIA and the commenter's own "ability." Whether that constitutes a credible threat or a reckless joke, it is the kind of language that would end careers and trigger federal investigations if it came from the other side of the political aisle.

After the April shooting, the brewery celebrated

The posts got worse. Following the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in April, an attack at which Trump was present, Minocqua Brewing Company returned to Facebook with this: "Well, we almost got #freebeerday."

The post 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." That language, lamenting a failed shooting, urging better "marksmanship," and pledging to celebrate whenever the president is killed, went beyond edgy marketing. It was a public endorsement of political violence, posted under a company brand, by a man who runs a federally registered PAC.

The broader pattern of anti-Trump activism crashing into reality is not unique to one Wisconsin brewery. Progressive movements built on opposing Trump have repeatedly found that performative outrage ages poorly when tested against actual consequences.

When Fox News Digital contacted Bangstad for comment on the permit revocation, he declined to address the substance. Instead, he made jokes about the deaths of Trump and Mitch McConnell and directed disparaging remarks at Fox News. The specific language of those jokes was not published.

Bangstad calls the revocation political, local officials say otherwise

In a Substack post published Sunday, Bangstad cast himself as the victim of state 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 "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."

The claim that Wisconsin is targeting Bangstad for his politics is not new. He has made the same argument before. When Oneida County's zoning committee previously revoked an operating permit over alleged outdoor sales violations, Bangstad said the action was retaliation for his liberal activism. The committee chairperson, Scott Holewinski, pushed back directly: "You keep (saying) we're after you because you're a liberal, because you're a Democrat. You make this all up against us."

The Department of Revenue's stated basis for this latest revocation, transporting beer from Illinois without proper permits and taxes, is a straightforward regulatory violation, not a speech case. Wisconsin requires brewers to comply with state permitting and tax law when moving product across state lines. Bangstad's company allegedly failed to do so. State authorities seized the beer in June.

The brewery's own website offers a window into how Bangstad views his business. He says he "started making #progressivebeer after closing our brewpub because Donald Trump played politics with Covid-19 and Mitch McConnell let restaurants twist in the wind." His Super PAC's stated mission is 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."

In other words, Bangstad built a business model around political grievance. The beer was secondary. The activism was the product. And when state regulators enforced the same rules every other brewer in Wisconsin must follow, Bangstad reached for the same playbook: claim persecution, ask for money, and blame Republicans.

Regulatory violations, not rhetoric, triggered the revocation

Nothing in the Department of Revenue's public statements references Bangstad's social media posts, his PAC, or his political views. The revocation notice covers two Brewer's permits and one warehouse permit, all tied to the alleged tax and permitting failures around beer transported from out of state.

The department confirmed the specifics in a second statement to Fox News Digital:

"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."

Whether Bangstad's inflammatory posts played any informal role in drawing regulatory attention is an open question the available record does not answer. What the record does show is a business owner who publicly wished for a president's death, celebrated a shooting, joked about CIA assassination, and then cried foul when the state enforced its own tax law.

Figures across the progressive resistance movement have repeatedly discovered that provocative rhetoric does not insulate them from the ordinary obligations of law. The political brand may generate donations and headlines, but it does not exempt anyone from the rules that apply to every other citizen and business in the state.

Bangstad has until August 4 to file his appeal. If he does, the brewery stays open while a hearing examiner reviews the case. If he does not, the permits die and the taprooms go dark.

A man who built his brand on celebrating the prospect of a president's death now needs the state's permission to keep pouring. He might start by following its laws.