The Battle of the Brews and Super Bowl LI
You may have seen that Georgia gas station owner Viral Chhadua, ticked off over an article in the Boston Globe written by Dan Shaughnessy titled “It’s hard to get pumped up about a Super Bowl against…Atlanta.”, has pulled Samuel Adams beer from his shelves until after the Super Bowl between the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots. He posted a hand-written sign in his gas station saying as much.
He felt the article was insulting to the Falcons and their fans, and he was having no part of THAT! He said, “I was already pumped that we were in the Super Bowl and matched up against living legends in Bill [Belichick] and Tom [Brady]. Then this article pops up and belittles our sports teams and fan base. I was irritated at the shots this guy took at the fan base and Atlanta as a whole.” So he’ll be promoting Atlanta’s SweetWater instead. At least one Atlanta bar is following his lead, and banning the Boston brew as well – Old Town Tavern & Grille.
Chhadua’s sign was posted on Twitter by Atlanta’s SweetWater Brewing, and that started some sparring between them and Samuel Adams, made by Boston Beer Co.. SweetWater attached a picture of the sign to a tweet with this header:
“Hey @SamuelAdamsBeer, feeling a little deflated?”
This was a direct reference to “Deflategate,” when the NFL accused members of the Patriots staff, including Tom Brady, of deflating footballs during the 2015 AFC Championship game – an obvious sore subject for die-hard New England fans.
Samuel Adams tweeted back:
“Your jokes falling flat. Better Belichick yourself before you wreck yourself.”
This was in reference to something Patriots fans say in honor of Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick.
The banter has now led to a friendly wager between SweetWater Brewing and Boston Beer Co – the losing team will name a new beer after the winner. This should be interesting.
We here at Your Beer Show can certainly relate to the passion of Viral Chhadua. Don’t mess with our sports teams! We’re betting you relate. Tell us who you got in this game, and why, in the comments below. Only a few days to go….
