Progressive provocateur and brewer Kirk Bangstad is suing the Wisconsin Department of Revenue after state agents seized about $25,000 of canned beer from his Minocqua Brewing Company taprooms in Minocqua and Madison, citing illegal production in Illinois and failure to obtain required permits or pay state excise taxes.
The June 11 enforcement action followed months of compliance discussions between the brewery and DOR officials after a complaint was filed last year. Investigators found the beer, brewed under contract in Illinois, was sold and stored in Wisconsin without proper licensing for out-of-state products, storage permits for the Madison warehouse, or payment of Wisconsin excise taxes. The seized inventory was classified as contraband under state alcohol beverage laws.
Bangstad quickly filed for an emergency injunction in Dane County court to recover the beer, warning it would spoil without refrigeration and that the loss threatened his business during peak summer tourism season in northern Wisconsin. His lawsuit alleges the DOR’s enforcement violates the 21st Amendment and Supreme Court precedent in Granholm v. Heald by discriminating against out-of-state production.
In lengthy Facebook posts, Bangstad framed the seizure as political retribution tied to his criticism of Gov. Tony Evers and his recent unsuccessful bid for governor, which failed to collect enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. He portrayed DOR agents as modern-day revenuers raiding a “bootleg” operation and compared the episode to Prohibition-era mobsters discovering Wisconsin’s Northwoods lakes while smuggling Canadian liquor.
“Believe it or not, our little tourism town of Minocqua, Wisconsin, exists in part because mobsters from Chicago discovered the beautiful lakes of Wisconsin’s Northwoods while bootlegging alcohol from Canada during Prohibition,” Bangstad wrote.
“Al Capone has nothing on the Minocqua Brewing Company,” he continued, “except maybe a penchant for violent crime. Then again — we DO sell voodoo dolls…”
The posts also accused the DOR of a “bait and switch” during inspections and claimed the agency refused his attempts to pay approximately $500 in back excise taxes, creating a “modern-day debtors’ prison” by seizing his inventory.
DOR has confirmed Bangstad remains under investigation and that the agency has worked with the brewery for months on permitting and tax issues related to the Illinois-produced beer. Wisconsin maintains a three-tier alcohol distribution system with strict rules for out-of-state products to ensure tax collection, safety, and compliance with the regulated marketplace.
Bangstad has a documented pattern of clashing with regulators and local governments, often attributing enforcement actions to political motives rather than compliance failures. His company has also drawn scrutiny for its Super PAC activities and use of the brewery platform to fund left-wing activism and merchandise tied to inflammatory anti-Trump rhetoric.
The DOR seizure represents standard regulatory enforcement of alcohol laws that apply equally to producers selling in Wisconsin. Bangstad’s attempt to cast routine tax and permitting requirements as gangster-style persecution or gubernatorial payback ignores the investigation timeline and his failure to secure necessary approvals before increasing out-of-state production and direct sales.
