A progressive brewery that sells a beer called “fascist tears” and has promised free booze on the day of Donald Trump’s death has been slapped with a liquor licence revocation order.
Minocqua Brewing Company in Wisconsin has been labelled “the state’s most progressive brewery” for its outspoken liberal politics.
Owner Kirk Bangstad has long claimed that his brewery has received unfair treatment because of his criticism of Mr Trump and other Republicans, and now it has escalated further.
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On July 15, Mr Bangstad received a letter from Wisconsin’s revenue department notifying him that his licence would be revoked, effective from August 4, which he called “laughable”.
It comes after the brewery was raided in June, where officials claimed beer was confiscated because it was moved interstate without the appropriate permits.
The investigation was reportedly launched after MAGA supporters lodged complaints about the brewery about COVID-19 vaccinations being included in their beer, and that staff spit in the food of patrons, which Mr Bangstad said was the “most ridiculous part” and called “meritless”.
In a lengthy Substack post, Mr Bangstad said he would be appealing the “heavy handed” decision and will fight it “tooth and nail”.
“Our brewery is very popular among progressives throughout the Upper Midwest because we actively fight against right-wing authoritarianism and corruption,” he wrote.
“As a result of our political activism, we’ve been boycotted by beer distributors and major grocery chains.”
The brewery sells beers called “Abolish ICE”, “Fascist Tears”, “The Gulf of Mexico”, and “The Resistance”, all of which are included in their “progressive beer” range.
They also have a “woke” nitro-coffee range, and a percentage of sales of wines sold go towards pro-abortion organisations.
“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 wrote.
The brewery’s Instagram page has more than 42,000 followers and its feed is full of politicised commentary, including screenshots of poor reviews from MAGA supporters with the owners’ replies.
While on their website currently, no merchandise is available for sale, an Instagram post on Friday said that they “can’t keep up” with the increased demand since the story hit the headlines.
“The more that flat-earth, vaccine-denying, Fauci-hating, Epstein-class apologists share the news that Wisconsin’s corrupt Department of Revenue is coming for us, the more beer and t-shirts we sell,” they wrote.
The post, which shared a screenshot of a US Today article about the licence revocation, said, “We ain’t going anywhere anytime soon”.
It said that they will be taking “Wisconsin’s tax mafia” to court and would be able to remain open until a hearing is set, “which could be a year from now”.
In January, the brewery’s official Facebook page wrote that on the day of Mr Trump’s death there would be “free beer, all day long”, and launched a t-shirt which read, “I wish it was Free Beer Day at Minocqua Brewing Company”.
After the shooting at the White House Correspondent Dinner in April, another post appeared on the page, which led to an FBI investigation.
“Well, we almost got #freebeerday,” it read.
“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.
“Regardless, we stand at the ready to pour free beer the day it happens…. Our celebration of life is going to be legendary.”
On Friday, the brewery promoted Free Beer Day, writing that it would be a “bless day” when Mr Trump dies.
“He sleeps through funerals, sleeps through basketball games, sleeps through world cup tournaments, sleeps through cabinet meetings, sleeps through cease-fires–basically sleeps through everything,” the brewery wrote on social media.
“One of these days, Rip Van ‘Tinkle’ won’t wake up, and that will be the day the entire world buys a plane ticket to Wisconsin to celebrate with us.”
Minocqua Brewing Company has also promised half price beer on the day of Mich McConnell’s death.
Mr Bangstad and his legal team have said they did not have any intention or desire to cause harm to Mr Trump.
