While LeBron James brought up some laughs for the Cavalier fans at Quicken Loans arena for grabbing a beer on the sideline, his feelings toward the brewing company are less happy. James grabbed a Dortmunder Gold, a flagship beer from Northeast Ohio’s own “Great Lakes Brewing” company, on the sideline and jokingly came close to taking a swig. “Great Lakes” took advantage of the situation and started using the image of James holding the drink to help promote it. According to cleveland.com, James is less than pleased.
How many beers would LeBron James need to drink for the Cavs to blow this lead? pic.twitter.com/803BpEFIPl
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 2, 2017
Great Lakes Brewing has a muddled history with James. When he took his talents to South Beach and joined the Miami Heat, the brewing company created a beer called the “Quitness”. They subtitled the beverage “a dry hopped India pale ale that leaves a bitter aftertaste, perfectly describing the mood of Cleveland sports fans these days.” James apparently has not forgotten.
In speaking to cleveland.com, James kept things short when answer questions about the company using his image. “This is about the last thing I’m trying to worry about right now, my agent and my legal team will take care of it, but yeah I know (Great Lakes) is trying to benefit off of me. And I heard they were the same company that made all those ‘Quitness’ beers, and now they’re trying to benefit off me this way? Yeah, it’s pretty funny.”
Great Lakes isn’t the only brewing company to make a drink based off of LeBron. When he made his first trip to Cleveland as a member of the Miami Heat, Buckeye Brewing came out with a drink titled “Witless”.
