In the wake of a storm of publicity over the past day, Boston Beer Company - which manufactures Sam Adams - has decided not to participate in the upcoming South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Yesterday South End restaurant Club Cafe announced that it would no longer serve Sam Adams due to the brewer's association with the parade. In an open letter on its facebook page Club Cafe stated that they were "disappointed that Sam Adams does not understand that the organizers of the St. Patrick's Day Parade continue to demonstrate that they do not respect LGBT Irish Americans by excluding LGBT members of this community from openly marching in the St.Patrick's Day Parade."

A post on this blog about the Club Cafe decision quickly gathered more than 400 comments and was shared by more than 700 facebook users.

This morning Sam Adams released a statement that said, in part "We share these sentiments with Mayor Walsh, Congressman Lynch and others and therefore we will not participate in this year’s parade."

Here is the entire statement:





"We have been participating in the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade for nearly a decade and have also supported the St. Patrick’s Day breakfast year after year. We’ve done so because of the rich history of the event and to support veterans who have done so much for this country. We were hopeful that both sides of this issue would be able to come to an agreement that would allow everyone, regardless of orientation, to participate in the parade. But given the current status of the negotiations, we realize this may not be possible. We share these sentiments with Mayor Walsh, Congressman Lynch and others and therefore we will not participate in this year’s parade. We will continue to support Senator Linda Dorcena Forry and her St. Patrick’s Day breakfast. We wish her all the best in her historic stewardship of this tradition."

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