Citing a Denver Post story from June about a fundraiser that MillerCoors vice-Chairman Pete Coors hosted for and with Donald Trump, she also stated that any remaining Miller products would be sold for $6 each and proceeds would be donated to Planned Parenthood in Vice-President-elect Mike Pence’s name.
Even though the story is over a half a year old at this point, the move stemmed from a recent discussion between Domingues and a bartender after he had recently posted the story to his Facebook page. “I didn’t know about it in June. If I had I would have gotten rid of it a long time ago,” Domingues said. “But when you are aware of things, you make a choice.”
“You do something about it or you don’t. I became aware of it so I’m doing my little part.”
The larger motivation came from being a parent. “I was searching for a way to find something I can do in my circle of influence,” Domingues told us. “Not only as a publican, but as a mother of a 5 year old daughter who is asking questions that I can’t answer right now.”
“I feel like if I’m modeling behavior for my daughter…negativity only breeds more negativity. I’m not trying to be negative about it – I’m just trying to find a positive, productive way to show that there are ways to do things.” Domingues also pointed out that charitable giving has long been a part of her efforts — the bar has hosted toy drives and made donations to the Lakeview Pantry.
As a craft-focused beer bar, the decision to pull Miller products from the shelves at The Green Lady is more a symbolic one than a major revamping of their offerings — Domingues only had Lite and High Life available to patrons; the only other Miller product they recently stocked was Crispin cider, but TGL hadn’t stocked it for a few months.
“I’m not calling it a boycott. I’m not telling people to stop selling these products. But there are ways within your own circle of influence to do something.” (Domingues also said they’ve never carried Blue Moon.) “The point isn’t to stick it to them – it’s not going to make any kind of dent in their pocket. It’s just something I can do. It’s my responsibility as a publican and a citizen to find something I can do,” she said.
A-B products will still be available for guests that absolutely require a macro-beer product, but Domingues says she’ll recommend other beers like Point, PBR and Old Style for guests who want a more “industrial style” of American lager. Approachable beers like Metropolitan’s Flywheel and Krankshaft along with beers like 5Rabbit’s regular golden ale will also remain available as well.
“When you are aware of things, you make a choice…I became aware of it so I’m doing my little part.”Melani Domingues
Domingues has also hosted some politics-related events at The Green Lady in recent months — the bar was one of the first to sell 5Rabbit’s Chinga Tu Pelo after they rebranded it in protest of Trump’s statements about Mexican immigrants, and sold a packaged version of the beer at cost to patrons.
They also held debate viewings and an election night event, and has hosted events for Chicago breweries like Spiteful Brewing, who also recently came under some fire for their release of their Dumb Donald beer.
In a related Chicago Tribune story, Josh Noel reports that Miller released a statement on the situation that said in part, “As a citizen, Pete Coors exercised his right to personally support the nominee of his political party. We respect Pete’s right to support any candidate in the same way we support that same right for any of our employees.”
“What it’s all going to boil down to in this post election landscape is we’re doing to have to decide – are we going to be productive?” Domingues said.
“This is what I can do.”
In the interest of full disclosure: GuysDrinkingBeer has hosted Chicago Craft Beer Week events at The Green Lady since 2011.