(The Center Square) – Kirk Bangstad is moving ahead with his case against the state of Wisconsin over his seized beer.
Bangstad, the one-time Democrat candidate for governor, filed a lawsuit in Dane County court against the state’s Department of Revenue.
His suit accuses the state of treating his beer “differently than substantially identical beer produced within the state of Wisconsin.”
Bangstad is asking the judge for an injunction and to return the nearly $25,000 in beer that DOR agents seized last week.
The Department of Revenue is not commenting on the lawsuit and has not said much about the bust at Bangstad’s taprooms in both Madison and Minocqua.
Bangstad said the state seized the beer because he failed to pay $500 in state excise taxes on his beer that is brewed in Illinois.
Bangstad has claimed that he tried to pay the tax but was not given the opportunity.
Over the weekend, Bangstad wrote on Facebook that he is being targeted by Gov. Tony Evers because he has criticized the governor. Bangstad also claimed that he is being targeted by the Tavern League because of his dislike of Wisconsin’s liquor regulations.
Bangstad doubled-down on those claims in his latest Substack post.
"I’m putting out a call to all breweries, distilleries, and wineries in Wisconsin who have been similarly discriminated against by the Tavern-League-backed Wisconsin Department of Revenue. If we pool our resources, we can better afford this lawsuit that will hopefully even the playing field between Wisconsin’s small producers and the distribution monopolies that keep us down," Bangstad wrote. "There’s a target on my company’s back for a reason, and that reason is because we’re slowly helping move Wisconsin FORWARD—a direction in which Republicans haven’t allowed us to move for over 20 years."
Bangstad announced a campaign for governor last month, but that fizzled after the Wisconsin Elections Commission said he did not gather enough valid signatures to make the primary ballot.
