Wisconsin brewery loses permit after post promising free beer on day of Trump’s death

Minocqua Brewing Company, a Wisconsin brewery, has had its permission to operate revoked after a social media post in which the brewery promised free beer on the day of Donald Trump’s death, the company said. Regulators launched an investigation after the post spread online.

The state action did more than remove the permit: the brewery was fined and ordered to stop producing and selling alcoholic beverages while the matter is being enforced, according to the notice the company received.

Regulators: promotion violated alcohol rules and public-safety standards

The disputed social-media message read in part: "Free beer all day when he dies. Show us this post when it happens in a few months and we'll fulfill the promise." After the post circulated, it drew thousands of negative comments, calls for boycotts and complaints to authorities.

In a written statement officials said the promotion breached multiple state alcohol regulations, citing rules on advertising and broader public-safety standards. They emphasized that holders of alcohol permits are explicitly forbidden from staging promotions that "encourage violence, call for illegal acts or disturb public order and peace."

The brewery’s owner and political activist, Kirk Bangstad, said he will not accept the decision quietly and described the original post as satirical political commentary protected by free speech. On his Substack he wrote: "I won't give this up easily. We will fight the state of Wisconsin with everything we've got. They will have to drag me out of my own brewery before I stop selling beer to the progressives who visit us."

Photo: press material from the event