Kirk Bangstad sues over beer bust, accuses Evers of retribution

“Now that our beer is mostly being made in Illinois, we build a refrigerated warehouse in Madison to be able to distribute it throughout Wisconsin from a central location. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue alcohol enforcement division tells us we need a permit to store beer at that warehouse,” Bangstad wrote on Facebook. “All in all, they probably took $25K worth of beer from us yesterday and haven’t put it under refrigeration to keep it fresh – all because we weren’t allowed to pay approximately $500 in Wisconsin excise taxes.”

Bangstad claimed he tried to pay the tax, but he said the state refused to accept it.

The Department of Revenue confirmed that Bangstad is under investigation and told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that state law prohibits beer brewed in Illinois to be sold in Wisconsin without a permit or license.

Bangstad argued that those state laws are unfair.

“Every one of the issues that led to my beer being seized yesterday stemmed from me simply trying to sell my beer online to Wisconsinites and customers around the country that want to buy it. If the Department of Revenue Alcohol Enforcement Division was able to relax these laws during Covid, with statistics showing that no harm was done to folks having beer delivered to their doorstep versus driving to a store to buy it, they shouldn’t be dropping the hammer on breweries that want to do it today,” Bangstad said.

Bangstad also said he is suing to get his beer back.

“The Minocqua Brewing Company has sued Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue over their seizure of approximately $25K of our beer. We had to act quickly – not only because our beer will spoil if left unrefrigerated, but because we will go bankrupt if we don’t have beer to sell during Minocqua’s busy summer tourism season,” he wrote.

And then Bangstad got political.

“We also suspect that the Department of Revenue’s actions last week were just the first steps in attempting to revoke our brewer’s permit and put us permanently out of business – not because we’re breaking laws, but because we’ve successfully angered the politically-influential alcohol distributors in Wisconsin’s Tavern League by selling our beer online, and because I’ve relentlessly criticized the Department of Revenue’s ultimate boss – Gov. Tony Evers – for being asleep at the wheel while Trump steamrolls American Democracy,” Bangstad posted on Facebook.

Neither the governor nor the Tavern League have commented on Bangstad’s claims.