Sorry, Boston ... No Sam Adams At This Falcons Fan's Store

GAINESVILLE, GA — Sip on a Sweetwater. Tipple a Terrapin. Grab a 12-pack of Red Brick, or any other Georgia-brewed beer.

But don't expect to walk into at least one Georgia convenience store and walk out with any Samuel Adams between now and Super Bowl Sunday. The Boston-based brew is banned at the Browns Bridge Exxon until the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots have settled the score in Super Bowl LI.

"We will NOT be selling any Sam Adam's until after the Super Bowl. #RiseUp," reads a sign taped to the beer cooler at the store in Gainesville — about an hour north of Atlanta.

(We're willing to let the typo slide out of team spirit and because ... hey ... this is football, not the Scripps National Spelling Bee.)

The NFC Champion Atlanta Falcons and AFC leading New England Patriots will kick off Super Bowl LI at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 5.

On a Facebook post showing the beer-cooler sign (which has been liked nearly 900 times and shared more than 3,500 times since Tuesday) store owner Viral Chhadua wrote that his temporary Boston booze ban was inspired by what he saw as disrespect for the Falcons and their fan base.

"It's not hate," he wrote to a Patriots-loving Facebook user. "One of your writers for Boston Globe called out a match up against our Falcons to be 'meh' and took shots at our Fanbase so this isn't hate, it's just a response from us that we ARE a passionate fan base!!!"

Last week, Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy wrote a piece with the headline, 'It's Hard To Get Pumped Up About A Super Bowl Against ... Atlanta'."

"We do not hate Atlanta nor its sports fans ... No. It’s not that. When it comes to Atlanta and its sports fans, we feel nothing. Maybe a little pity," he wrote.

He goes on to call Atlanta "a town with absolutely zero enthusiasm for professional sports. And the non-fans know it. "

That rubbed Chhadua the wrong way.

"I was already pumped that we were in the Super Bowl and matched up against living legends in Bill (Belichick) and Tom (Brady)," Chhadua told ESPN. "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 away went the Sam Adams —a beer made by the Boston Brewing Company and, with its Revolutionary War trappings, associated closely with the Patriots and their home turf.

For their part, Samuel Adams was taking the news in stride, in the way that only fans of a squad that has already been to eight Super Bowls and won four of them can.

"Won't be their only loss," the company wrote on Twitter, in a post containing a link to a story about the Browns Bridge ban. They followed up with a shot at one of Atlanta's own, adding: "And don't worry, Atlanta. We're still drinking @CocaCola."

Meanwhile, back in Gainesville, Chhadua was making it clear that the feud with Boston and its beer is only a temporary one, and that — win or lose — Samuel Adams will be back on his shelves after the big game.

"It'll be back on the shelf on Monday the 6th," he wrote on Facebook.

Photo courtesy Browns Bridge Exxon Facebook page