LAKEVIEW — Those hoping for a cool, light lager at The Green Lady will have one less option and Donald Trump is to thank.
After Trump's election to the presidency last month, the Lakeview bar's owner, Melani Domingues, took an introspective look at the causes her business helped through its purchase of certain beers.
Specifically, Domingues said she was surprised to hear from one of her bartenders that Pete Coors, vice chairman of the board of the parent company of MillerCoors, co-hosted a Trump fundraiser in June. And while Miller Lite and Miller High Life aren't big sellers compared to local craft beers at The Green Lady, Domingues said she is taking them off her shelves for good.
"The post-election climate in this country is changing, and it will continue to change, and there will be some dark times," Domingues said Thursday. "We need to get in front of it and make sure that the choices that we make are standing behind what we believe in."
The Green Lady, at 3328 N. Lincoln Ave., only had Miller beers on hand for "at the end of the night, when customers go to macro, or something a little lighter," Domingues said.
"We're not really a Miller Lite bar, anyway," she added.
They've also sold Crispin — a MillerCoors-produced hard cider — in the past and will cease, although it was already out of stock when she made the decision.
As for the remaining cases of the now-banned beers, Domingues will sell bottles for $6 and donate profits to Planned Parenthood in the name of Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
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"It's not a judgment on anyone of how they run their business or what they choose to support," Domingues said. "But I don't have to support those people."
MillerCoors produces Miller and Coors beers, along with Leinenkugel's, Crispin Hard Cider, Blue Moon, Saint Archer and Hop Valley. Based in Chicago, the company also brews Pabst Brewing Company products, although that relationship is currently experiencing some strain.
The company said in a statement that Pete Coors' support of Trump was a personal decision and independent of MillerCoors or parent company Molson Coors. It said a boycott would hurt its 8,100 workers and business partners.
"At MillerCoors, we believe that progress will be advanced when people with differing viewpoints work productively, respectfully and collaboratively and that’s something for which we will always advocate," the statement said. "As a company we value inherently and without question, the differences of religion, race, sexuality and everything that makes us all unique."
The statement said that the company did not officially support a candidate in the presidential race.
"Whomever our employees choose to support is their business, not ours. 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," the statement said.
The company said that it had given $94.2 million to nonprofits in the last eight years.
In part, Domingues said she made her decision to pull Miller beers in keeping with her efforts to educate her 5-year-old daughter on the electoral process. After taking her daughter to the polls, Domingues struggled with how to break the news that their candidate hadn't won.
"She was very excited to elect 'our first girl president,' and the next day I had to explain to her that sometimes we don't win, and how do we turn this positive within our circle of influence," Domingues said. "I've always tried to help her understand that we're all in this together."
The Green Lady owner Melani Domingues. [DNAinfo/Mark Konkol]
To the naysayers, Domingues points to the history of bars as public houses and gathering places where politics have long been discussed. The Green Lady itself hosted debate watch parties and an Election Night event.
"I'm from Flint, Michigan, so I understand being disenfranchised, the feeling of hopelessness," Domingues said. "But you have to turn that into something. Just being negative and name-calling is not productive."
Like Trump, Coors is a businessman-turned-politician worth millions.
When Coors ran for an open Colorado senate seat in 2004, he contributed $1.2 million of his own money to the campaign, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Although he lost the race, Coors has remained active in politics. He and his wife donated $294,475 to the Republican Party in 2016, records from the Center for Responsive Politics show.
Relatively small contributions went to individual presidential candidates like Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Ted Cruz. Coors also gave to Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and ousted New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
As for her decision to donate proceeds from the leftover Miller beers to Planned Parenthood, "I think there's a crusade against women and women's reproductive rights, and I think that people need to be aware of the appointees' stances and what their record in their own state shows."
The bar has had a longtime focus on supporting local brewers, like 5 Rabbit and Begyle Brewing. In fact, it was one of the first to serve Chinga tu Pelo, the 5 Rabbits anti-Trump beer originally branded as Trump's Golden Ale and sold at Trump Towers.
"Where I spend my bar dollars matters to me, and who those companies are matters to me," Domingues said. "I support the people that are of like mind."
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