Minocqua Brewing is opening a second taproom in Madison as disputes continue with its home town

Minocqua Brewing Co. is opening a second location hours away in Madison, in the hopes that the left-leaning city will support the business after it endured years of political disputes in its Northwoods hometown.

Owner Kirk Bangstad has had ongoing issues with the town of Minocqua in Oneida County that have included him filing two lawsuits against the town board — one claiming political harassment and the other a restraining order. He also lost a defamation lawsuit filed against him by the publisher of the Minocqua-based Lakeland Times newspaper.

Issues started in 2020 when Bangstad, a politically active Democrat, hung a large Biden campaign sign that the Oneida County department of planning and zoning threatened to fine him for, claiming its large size violated a county ordinance. That year Bangstad also ran for — and lost — a state Assembly seat representing the right-leaning Oneida County, which voted for Republicans for all statewide seats in 2022.

The drama led Bangstad to seek a new city for a second location to provide supplemental income as he anticipates more conflict with the town up north.

With beers named after Democratic figures such as Joe Biden (Biden Beer), Tony Evers (Evers Ale), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC IPA), along with his Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC, Bangstad thought the state's capital made sense.

"Madison is my best market. My beer sells the best here," he said. "The area's largely Democrat and has been really welcoming, which is diametrically opposed to how it is going in Minocqua."

Bangstad chose the space that formerly housed Growlers to Go-Go, 2927 E. Washington Ave., thanks to a friendship with Casey Welch, who owns neighboring Trixie's Liquor Store and the building both are housed in.

"Trixie's Liquor was one of my retail customers. He was one of the first places in Madison to pick up my Biden Beer, and it sells really well here," he said.

Where most brewery and bar owners abide by the golden rule of no talking about religion or politics, Bangstad fully embraces the latter.

"My whole mission in this brewery is to get excited about politics and talk about how we can keep Wisconsin progressive," he said. "You wouldn't believe how many people come from all over the country. They say, 'We can't wait to get drunk and talk about politics,' because they know that they are among friends."

Renderings for the new taproom show slogans such as "Drink beer and don't be racist," and "Choose reason over treason" placed throughout. Planned for above the bar is a can mural that says "Love Wins," made of cans purchased by donors for $50 each; Bangstad has sold about 300.

"It's awesome how a bunch of liberal beer drinkers around the country helped us reduce the cost of construction," he said.

Bangstad has brought in a few partnerships to help offer more than just beer at the Madison taproom, including coffee roasted by Madison's Rusty Dog under the label "Woke Coffee;" "Choice" wine made in collaboration with LGBTQ-owned Equality Vines in California; and pizzas from Madison's Mentoring Positives Off The Block, which provides mentorship and job opportunities for Madison teenagers.

The taproom will host a soft opening March 13. A patio and beer garden will be open by this summer.

Fights between Minocqua Brewing Company and the town

Bangstad said the ongoing political issues with Minocqua started after he decided he would put the original Minocqua Brewing Company location at 238 Lakeshore Drive up for sale after COVID decimated sales in 2020. He thought maybe he'd sell the business along with it.

"I thought I was going out of business, and got political," he said.

He hung a large Biden campaign sign outside the brewpub that county officials threatened to fine him for, saying it was bigger than ordinances allowed. The situation went viral, and it reignited his drive to keep the brewery in Minocqua.

He went through with the sale of the building to downsize as he no longer planned to sell food, and he purchased a new, smaller location at 329 Front St.

To make the new location profitable he wanted to build a beer garden in the parking lot, but he has been battling the town over the ability to do so for two years. Minocqua will not granted him an easement on land adjacent to his parking lot, which is required for him to be compliant with his license with Oneida County. He cannot adjust his license to add an outdoor space until he is compliant.

This led Bangstad to file a political harassment lawsuit against the county, the town, and the board supervisors in August 2023, claiming the town board — which he said is made up of Republicans — was creating issues through what he called "selective enforcement." The case is still pending.

On March 4 Bangstad filed a restraining order against the town of Minocqua so that it cannot file complaints to Oneida County, which has jurisdiction for such complaints, until the political harassment issue has been resolved. Town Chairman Mark Hartzheim did not return a Journal Sentinel call requesting comment on the pending legal matters.

Bangstad was also politically active in 2020 when he ran as a Democrat against Republican incumbent Rob Swearingen for state Assembly District 34. After losing, he created the Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC, which supports progressive causes.

More: A timeline of how the Minocqua Brewing Company uses its PAC to support Democratic causes

Bangstad is also at odds with Gregg Walker, publisher of the Minocqua-based Lakeland Times.

Walker sued Bangstad for defamation and won. The court said Bangstad defamed Walker by claiming on Facebook that he had engaged in elder abuse of his father and may have let his 23-year-old brother bleed to death in a hunting accident so that he could inherit the newspaper business. Bangstad was ordered to pay $750,000 in that case.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Minocqua Brewing is opening a second taproom in Madison amid lawsuits