Beer and Politics in Wisconsin’s Northwoods

By JON R. PIKE

“I feel like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.” nnThat’s how Northern Wisconsin business owner and political activist Kirk Bangstad sees himself, referring to the chain of events that unrolled following putting a Biden sign in his now-closed brew pub in the town of Minocqua.

He’s referring to the apparent invulnerability of the creature from “Ghostbusters.”

Minocqua, is an unincorporated town of about 8,000 permanent residents nestled in Wisconsin’s north woods. The population waxes and wanes depending on how many people come up to enjoy the area during winter for cross-country skiing and snowmobiling or come up to live in their cabins during the summer for fishing and swimming.

Wisconsin is definitely a swing state and it can certainly be argued that the state played crucial roles in the presidential elections of 2016 and 2020.

Different parts of the state tend to trend Democrat or Republican. Minocqua in in an area that tends to vote Republican. Bangsdtad is from Portage County, which is in the center of the state, and usually goes Democrat. Besides a tradition as a swing state, Wisconsin’s German and Eastern European immigrants brought a tradition of brewing beer to the state, and the state boasts many brewpubs and microbrews.

Bangstad moved and started a business in Minocqua and then hung up a Biden poster.

The poster was in reaction to the closing of his business as a result of the COVID epidemic. He says his neighbors did not like it and it became a bone of contention in the community.

But, he says. “If they had ignored me, I would have gone bankrupt.”

He started selling beer branded as Biden Beer and Inauguration Day Beer. He has also sold Bernie Beer and ‘la (For Kamala Harris) Beer.

But, it wouldn’t be sold locally.

The beer is sold in Portage County and also in the Madison and Milwaukee areas, which also reliably vote for Democrats in elections.

The beer has also found a home in the grocery store on the nearby Native American reservation of the Lac Du Flambeau Tribe. “People skip over Trig’s (a Wisconsin grocery chain) and go to the Lac Du Flambeau Store to get our beer,” says Bangstad, as Trig’s doesn’t carry their beer.

What good will his business has had, he generates outside of the Minocqua,” If something bad happens, I write about on my blog and people help me.”

Bangstad has had some experience in statewide politics, as he ran for State Assembly unsuccessfully.

Since then, he says he has become a political financier, “If the Koch Brothers, can do it, so can I,” says Bangstad.

He has officially founded a political action committee called the Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC and money from beer sales goes to the PAC which is working to unseat US Senator Ron Johnson, who Bangstad says should be targeted because he voted against the recent Biden stimulus package. The PAC is also working to defeat US House Member Tom Tiffany, who represents Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, which is where Minocqua lies.

Though there is only one business powering his PAC, Bangstad says he is serious about its work. He says he’s raised over $150,000 and has hired phone bank workers during recent campaigns.

Bangstad says he also wants to raise some serious issues in Wisconsin. His site sells T-shorts that address the issue of gerrymandering, the drawing of favorable election districts by the party in control of the legislative branch. The lines drawn by Republican legislative members have survived court challenges so far. “I want to have a deep conversation about gerrymandering,” says Bangstad.

Part of having that conversation also means having a way to hold it. Bangstad participates in the Up North Podcast, which discusses Wisconsin politics and is available on Apple podcasts.

Though not specifically associated with the brewing company, there is also, an online news site called Up North News, which is involved with the podcasts.

So, combined with Bangstad’s own blog about his business and politics, there are media in the Minocqua area trying to raise progressive issues and working on elections to try to keep this state tilting blue, which could be a challenge.

Wisconsin has one US Senator of each major party, a Democratic governor, a Republican state legislature, and, as recent history can go one way in one presidential election and then go the other way four years later. Also, as recent history has affirmed, Wisconsin can play an important role in deciding who has the country’s top job.

In the Northwoods of Wisconsin, Kirk Bangstad is trying to turn his part of the state blue with a combination of beer and politics.

Jon Pike is a freelance writer based in Fargo, N.D.

From The Progressive Populist, June 1, 2021

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