A Wisconsin brewery that promised free beer the day President Trump dies now faces likely closure after the state revoked its alcohol permits over alleged transport and tax violations.
Owner Kirk Bangstad said the Madison taproom will likely shut down by the end of the year while Minocqua Brewing Co. keeps fighting the state’s decision. The New York Post reported that Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue revoked brewing permits for the company’s Minocqua and Madison locations after alleging beer was hauled in from Illinois without the required permits and tax payments.
Bangstad’s company built a brand on left-wing political stunts, including free-beer and half-price promotions tied to the deaths of Republican leaders. Regulators say the case is about following alcohol laws, not politics. The owner disputes that and claims officials targeted the brewery for its views.
Fox News reported that Bangstad said the Madison taproom is likely to shut down as the business continues fighting the state’s decision. The revocation does not take effect until appeals finish. A hearing on the company’s appeal is set for Nov. 18.
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue framed the action as routine enforcement. In a statement to Fox News Digital, the agency said it acts when rules are broken.
DOR officials put it this way:
"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."
The Washington Examiner reported that a raid seized products allegedly moved from Illinois without necessary permits and taxes, and that the company would have its alcohol permit revoked by Tuesday, per a Substack post by Bangstad. That account lines up with the core allegation of unpermitted, untaxed out-of-state beer.
Alcohol businesses live or die on licenses, taxes, and clean shipping records. Skip those steps and the state can pull the permit. That is the mechanism here, whatever the brewery’s politics.
Minocqua Brewing Co. did not hide its politics. On Jan. 22 the company Facebook account posted: “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 said the Madison taproom would handle it year-round, or the Minocqua location if the death came in summer.
After a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April, where Trump was present, the brewery posted: “Well, we almost got #freebeerday.” When reached for comment, the brewery made disparaging remarks about Trump and noted it would host a “#freebeerday” when the president passes, adding: “Reminder, however, no red hats allowed.”
The company also promoted half-price beer tied to Sen. Mitch McConnell. An Instagram post said that when they announce McConnell’s “Faustian dance has finally ended,” the brewery would serve beer at half price because it promised “#halfpricebeerday” on the day “they unplug the ventilator.” McConnell, 84, had been absent from the Senate for months after a fall at home earlier this year and returned last week ahead of key votes.
Bangstad founded the Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC. The brewery’s own about page says it “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.”
Readers tracking how critics fixate on Trump’s health and image have seen this pattern before, including when social media critics seized on airport footage to push a familiar narrative. Death-watch marketing is a different level of contempt for customers who simply disagree.
Bangstad and the brewery have accused officials of going after them because of their political views. No court finding in the available record has established that claim. What the state has put on paper is a transport-and-tax case: beer from Illinois, missing permits, missing tax payments, then revoked permits for both Wisconsin sites.
Small brewers and big ones alike have to clear the same paperwork when product crosses state lines. Wisconsin collects alcohol taxes and requires the right transport authority. The DOR says those rules were not followed. The company is using the appeal process, as it is entitled to do, with the Nov. 18 hearing still ahead and the revocation on hold until that process ends.
Political branding does not cancel tax law. Progressive activists who treat a taproom as a SuperPAC annex still answer to the same revenue department as every other licensee. That is accountability, not a conspiracy.
National fights over media access and public criticism keep showing how raw the Trump-era divide remains, from a Trump-appointed judge’s order on press credentials to bills aimed at broadcasters. A brewery that sold death-day free beer sits at the coarse end of that same culture war, and still has to pay its taxes and hold valid permits.
Bangstad’s Monday assessment was blunt: the Madison taproom is likely gone by year’s end if the fight does not turn around. Channel 3000 carried his warning about that location. Minocqua remains in the picture as the other site under the same permit action, and as the summer backup venue named in the free-beer posts.
Until appeals finish, the company can keep operating under the current status. After that, no alcohol permit means no legal pours. For a brewery, that is an existential line. Bangstad is still contesting the revocation. The state’s position is that the laws were not followed and the penalty fits the conduct.
GOP infighting and Trump policy fights continue on other fronts, including when Republican senators clashed with Trump over a red-carpet welcome for China’s Xi. None of that rewrites Wisconsin’s alcohol code or the allegation that Illinois beer moved without permits and taxes.
The brewery wrapped identity politics into the product and then ran into a compliance wall. Offering free beer on a president’s death was a choice. So was the shipping and tax paper trail the DOR says was missing. One choice got headlines. The other may close the Madison doors.
Customers who want beer without a loyalty test, and taxpayers who expect licensed sellers to follow the same rules, are not the villains in this story. A business that marketed a death watch and then lost its permits is living with the results of its own conduct and its own books.