Undercover Sting Busts Minnesota Bar for Selling Rare Wisconsin Beer
New Glarus Brewing’s Spotted Cow beer is a Wisconsin institution, an easy-drinking cream ale that several reviewers say would be their regular summer beer ... if they could get it outside the state. The brewer is only licensed to distribute its limited supply of beer within Wisconsin, and the beer cops in neighboring Minnesota take that rule very seriously.
State alcohol enforcers ran a sting operation on the Maple Tavern in Maple Grove, Minn. last week after an anonymous rat informed them the bar had Spotted Cow on tap and had been boasting about it on Facebook.
According to court documents, two undercover officers rolled into the bar on April 13 and successfully ordered a glass of Spotted Cow.
They’ll be the last customers to enjoy it. Minnesota’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division confiscated all six kegs the bar’s manager had purchased from a Wisconsin liquor store. The Maple Tavern’s owner could face charges of felony resale, according to Fox Twin Cities.
Minnesota residents will have to go back to the old-fashioned way of getting Spotted Cow: driving over the border and paying 9 bucks a six-pack.
