Picture of our partially completed "Love Wins" beer can sculpture that will be the centerpiece of our new Madison tap room
Hi Friends,
Quick update for today, because we’re about a week away from opening our new tap room in Madison and there’s a ton of work left to do.
Voucher school lawsuit
After spending around $100K of your donations not only on the lawsuit itself, but on producing 10 week’s worth of radio shows and social media sound bites to show Wisconsinites what a fraud the private school voucher system really is, we are still working behind the scenes with allied organizations to fund and hone our second legal effort.
As most of you probably remember, our first effort was to ask the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take up our case in an “original action,” meaning we tried to bypass the lower courts and save a lot of money on litigation.
We still believe this was the best course of action because all the evidence needed to decide this case had already been published by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction--thus we didn’t need to establish an “evidentiary record” through lower court decisions.
While we still don’t love the fact that much of the Democratic establishment “punted” when we asked them to write amici briefs to help convince our left-leaning Supreme Court to take up this case, we understand why they punted.
The politics of vouchers schools are tricky. Betsy Devos’ voucher lobby has spent millions falsely advertising to marginalized folks in inner city Milwaukee, who typically vote for Democrats, that this parasitic system benefits their children. It’s difficult for Wisconsin's Democratic leaders to support a lawsuit that may anger that marginalized constituency when they need them so desperately to show up to the polls and vote for Biden to once again save American Democracy next November.
So the effort continues, but it will take longer. I hope to announce our next steps in the coming weeks.
Quick update for today, because we’re about a week away from opening our new tap room in Madison and there’s a ton of work left to do.
Voucher school lawsuit
After spending around $100K of your donations not only on the lawsuit itself, but on producing 10 week’s worth of radio shows and social media sound bites to show Wisconsinites what a fraud the private school voucher system really is, we are still working behind the scenes with allied organizations to fund and hone our second legal effort.
As most of you probably remember, our first effort was to ask the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take up our case in an “original action,” meaning we tried to bypass the lower courts and save a lot of money on litigation.
We still believe this was the best course of action because all the evidence needed to decide this case had already been published by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction--thus we didn’t need to establish an “evidentiary record” through lower court decisions.
While we still don’t love the fact that much of the Democratic establishment “punted” when we asked them to write amici briefs to help convince our left-leaning Supreme Court to take up this case, we understand why they punted.
The politics of vouchers schools are tricky. Betsy Devos’ voucher lobby has spent millions falsely advertising to marginalized folks in inner city Milwaukee, who typically vote for Democrats, that this parasitic system benefits their children. It’s difficult for Wisconsin's Democratic leaders to support a lawsuit that may anger that marginalized constituency when they need them so desperately to show up to the polls and vote for Biden to once again save American Democracy next November.
So the effort continues, but it will take longer. I hope to announce our next steps in the coming weeks.
Trump Lawsuit
Hopefully you heard the news that Illinois has now joined Colorado and Maine to become the third state to remove Trump from their ballots.
With your help and donations, we filed a similar lawsuit to remove Trump from Wisconsin’s ballot last December. Justice moves slowly as a matter of course in Wisconsin, but this case is moving even more slowly because the US Supreme Court is stacked with conservatives who are seemingly slow-walking every case concerning Trump—which affects our case and should alarm every American.
I’d write an entire essay about how afraid I am of SCOTUS helping Trump become a dictator, but not this week. There’s floors to get sealed and toilets to get installed today at the tap room.
Hopefully you heard the news that Illinois has now joined Colorado and Maine to become the third state to remove Trump from their ballots.
With your help and donations, we filed a similar lawsuit to remove Trump from Wisconsin’s ballot last December. Justice moves slowly as a matter of course in Wisconsin, but this case is moving even more slowly because the US Supreme Court is stacked with conservatives who are seemingly slow-walking every case concerning Trump—which affects our case and should alarm every American.
I’d write an entire essay about how afraid I am of SCOTUS helping Trump become a dictator, but not this week. There’s floors to get sealed and toilets to get installed today at the tap room.
2nd Federal Lawsuit Against the Town of Minocqua
Tomorrow, we will file our second federal lawsuit against the Town of Minocqua to force them to give us the same type of easement they’ve given to many other businesses that allow cars to enter their property.
For the third year in a row, the town board has used the strategy of stonewalling us all winter in order to make it impossible for us to fully comply with county ordinances on parking and outdoor beer consumption before the busy summer tourism season begins.
Their goal, as in the past three winters, is to put us in a position where if we try to sell our beer outside, we’ll risk violating county zoning regulations that, as witnessed last summer, were only used against us, as opposed to other businesses, in a devious practice called “selective enforcement.”
We refuse to wait until the summer tourism season begins for them to start hurting our business again, so we’re hoping we can convince a judge to give us a temporary restraining order against the Town that will allow us to build our beer garden and serve beer to our customers while our larger lawsuit against them for political harassment winds its way through the system.
For the third year in a row, the town board has used the strategy of stonewalling us all winter in order to make it impossible for us to fully comply with county ordinances on parking and outdoor beer consumption before the busy summer tourism season begins.
Their goal, as in the past three winters, is to put us in a position where if we try to sell our beer outside, we’ll risk violating county zoning regulations that, as witnessed last summer, were only used against us, as opposed to other businesses, in a devious practice called “selective enforcement.”
We refuse to wait until the summer tourism season begins for them to start hurting our business again, so we’re hoping we can convince a judge to give us a temporary restraining order against the Town that will allow us to build our beer garden and serve beer to our customers while our larger lawsuit against them for political harassment winds its way through the system.
Tom Koren, owner of Rusty Dog Coffee, who makes our WOKE brand of coffee products, sharing a beer with me after helping install our tap system
And finally, the good news.
After a number of delays, I'm tentatively announcing that we’re going to open the Madison location of the Minocqua Brewing Company, located at 2927 East Washington Avenue, this coming Friday, March 8, at 11 am.
This statement is of course made on a Sunday before we call for a health inspection, so you may be getting a retraction from me tomorrow, but since we’ve been THOROUGHLY inspected every step of the way, I can’t see any problems with us being able to open in 6 days.
Now, this opening WILL NOT BE our grand opening, because there are a number of design elements that aren’t finished yet, but we gotta start selling beer and merchandise as soon as possible, because loans need to be paid regardless of whether or not all the art has been hung.
After a number of delays, I'm tentatively announcing that we’re going to open the Madison location of the Minocqua Brewing Company, located at 2927 East Washington Avenue, this coming Friday, March 8, at 11 am.
This statement is of course made on a Sunday before we call for a health inspection, so you may be getting a retraction from me tomorrow, but since we’ve been THOROUGHLY inspected every step of the way, I can’t see any problems with us being able to open in 6 days.
Now, this opening WILL NOT BE our grand opening, because there are a number of design elements that aren’t finished yet, but we gotta start selling beer and merchandise as soon as possible, because loans need to be paid regardless of whether or not all the art has been hung.
Click here for to see me rehearsing a beautiful song called Mi Mancherai from the movie "Il Postino."
In addition to opening this Friday, I’m going to do something next Sunday that I haven’t done in years—sing a concert.
We built a little stage in our tap room and will eventually welcome musicians to perform on it. Given my previous stint as a classical vocalist in New York City and my love for classical music in general, I plan to eventually showcase live classical music on Sunday afternoons in what we’re going to call “Beer Church.”
So next Sunday at 2 pm, join me and my friend Susan Gaeddart, a fabulous collaborative pianist, along with guest violinist Maynie Bradley, as I sing a bunch of "pop opera" love songs from Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Andrea Bocelli.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting the Minocqua Brewing Company. Together, let's make Wisconsin great again, one beer and beautiful song at time.
Kirk Bangstad
Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company
Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC
We built a little stage in our tap room and will eventually welcome musicians to perform on it. Given my previous stint as a classical vocalist in New York City and my love for classical music in general, I plan to eventually showcase live classical music on Sunday afternoons in what we’re going to call “Beer Church.”
So next Sunday at 2 pm, join me and my friend Susan Gaeddart, a fabulous collaborative pianist, along with guest violinist Maynie Bradley, as I sing a bunch of "pop opera" love songs from Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Andrea Bocelli.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting the Minocqua Brewing Company. Together, let's make Wisconsin great again, one beer and beautiful song at time.
Kirk Bangstad
Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company
Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC