A new lawsuit against Minocqua Brewing Company makes claims about payments I pointed out in 2021

The lawsuit claims Bangstad is funneling money to himself; Bangstad calls it a Republican "hit job"

Bangstad speaks at a rally to save Minocqua Brewing Company from losing its operating permit in 2023. An appeals board denied his appeal last week, seemingly rendering the Minocqua location unable to open.

In 2021 I wrote a story about the Minocqua Brewing Co. SuperPAC founded by Minocqua Brewing Co.’s owner, Kirk Bangstad. Bangstad is the enigmatic owner of Minocqua Brewing Company, who bought the business and turned it to a political direction. He’s fought with the town and county leadership up north, been successfully sued for defaming the publisher of the Lakeland Times, Gregg Walker, in the largest award in state history, and has just lost his operating permit for the Northwoods brewery.

In 2021 The Wausonian published a story pointing out that some payments his SuperPAC, Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC, made went to entities that don’t seem to exist. Bangstad at the time refused to answer any questions related to those payments. Recently he ended an interview with WPR’s Rob Mentzer when Mentzer asked some of those same questions.

But the Wausonian recently received a copy of a lawsuit filed last week by Walker and Lakeland Times General Manager Heather Holmes against Bangstad, Minocqua Brewing Company and his SuperPAC, the Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC.

The suit alleges a number of the same things The Wausonian pointed out in 2021 - there were payments to entities that didn’t seem to exist.

The Wausonian had received the same treatment in 2021 when this publication reached out to Bangstad about those payments, he responded by insulting, insinuating political bias, and filled two emails with misspelled rantings. Within those pages, he refused to answer questions

Follow the money

One of the chief allegations of the suit revolves around two payments to companies made by the SuperPAC.

One of those went to a company called Effervescent Blue. At the time of The Wausonian’s reporting, the payments claimed it was for catering.

A search for Effervescent Blue at the time didn’t yield anything. Presumably even a startup caterer would have a website or Facebook page, or some kind of contact.

The records in the Federal Elections Commission filings included an address. That Madison address leads to a jewelry store (called a locksmith in Mentzer’s piece for some reason UPDATE: Mentzer corrected his piece - he told me a locksmith came up on the other side of the building.). Nothing comes up on a corporate search either.

As far as anyone can tell, Effervescent Blue does not exist.

Payments to Effervescent Blue were part of nearly $1 million the SuperPAC spent in 2024. Effervescent Blue received multiple payments of exactly $4,500 from the SuperPAC for “digital services.” In 2021 it was for “Event Planning Services.”

There are also payments going to an organization called NCPS with an address in Milwaukee. On a quick search, that address is listed as a UPS Store. The payments were for billboards. The UPS Store offers a variety of services, but billboards don’t appear to be one of those services. Payments to NCPS in 2021 went to “strategic consulting services.”

Payments to both of those entities continued into 2024, according to FEC filings. In total, the SuperPAC sent roughly $436,000 to those two entities between 2021 and 2024, according to the lawsuit. Nearly $200,000 of that - just under half - was dispersed in 2024.

Key accusations in the lawsuit

The lawsuit is rather lengthy and somewhat wide-ranging in its scope. For the sake of brevity, The Wausonian summarized the allegations in the suit, some of which contained images not fit for publication: