Wisconsin brewery that taunted Trump’s death faces permit closure

A Wisconsin brewery known for dangling the promise of free beer on the day President Trump dies is bracing to lose its Madison taproom after the state moved to revoke its alcohol permits.

Owner Kirk Bangstad said Monday the location will likely shut its doors by year’s end as he fights the Wisconsin Department of Revenue’s decision, according to Channel 3000, which first reported the closure. The department moved to revoke brewing permits for Mr. Bangstad’s Minocqua and Madison locations, alleging beer was shipped in from Illinois without the required permits or tax payments. A hearing on the company’s appeal is set for Nov. 18, and the revocation won’t take effect until the appeal process concludes.

Mr. Bangstad has cast the state’s move as retaliation for his brewery’s brash left-wing branding. Minocqua Brewing Co. drew national attention in January when it posted on Facebook that it would give away “Free beer, all day long the day he dies,” an apparent reference to Mr. Trump. The company later clarified the offer would run at its Madison taproom, which is open year-round, or at its Minocqua location if the event fell in the summer season, when that taproom operates.

The stunt wasn’t an isolated one. After the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April, where Mr. Trump was in attendance, the brewery posted that it had “almost got #freebeerday.” The company has also promised half-price beer for the day Senate Republican Mitch McConnell dies.

Mr. Bangstad has since turned the attention into a campaign for Wisconsin governor, running as a Democrat and warning party officials he would win his primary outright if they tried to keep him off the stage at the state convention.

The brewery’s rhetoric toward Mr. McConnell has echoes of a broader controversy over his health this year. Mr. McConnell, 84, was hospitalized after a fall at his Washington home in June and was largely out of public view for months. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear later said he’d received unconfirmed reports the senator had died while hospitalized, telling an interviewer, “I’d gotten two calls from different agencies, not state agencies, suggesting he’d passed,” in an account relayed by Fox News. Mr. McConnell returned to the Senate in September to cast his first vote in three months.

Minocqua Brewing Co. has built its identity around left-wing activism, selling politically themed merchandise and, until recently, running a super PAC targeting Republican officials. The PAC has since terminated.