Everyone likes a day off from work. They seem to exist in an ephemeral plane where you don’t have to clean or do chores. Instead, most of us use them as a time to binge some entertainment, enjoy good company, eat some epic food, and down a couple of beers.
Election Day, on the other hand, is the worst of all worlds. Not only are employees often asked to put in a full day (voting rules vary) but they also have to brave the polls before settling in for the night to watch the results come in. And, man, recent elections have proven that there may not be a day on which we more deserve a chance to chill and drink.
Blue Point Brewing recognizes the dilemma and they are prepared to do something about it. Spurred forward by company president Jenna Lally’s passion to increase voter engagement, the brand has released Voters’ Day Off, a beer designed to encourage Congress to establish Election Day as a federal holiday. In addition to the IPA, the brand has also launched a petition aimed at Congress through Change.org.
Inspired by the example of her own father, who worked two jobs and went to school at night in addition to parenting four children, Lally is well aware there are a variety of reasons people have difficulty making it to the polls.
“It affects many Americans,” she noted in an email to Food&Wine. “There are fellow citizens on our Blue Point social media pages telling their own stories—someone commuting on the 6 p.m. LIRR train and not making it back to Long Island in time to feed their kids and make it to the polls; a RN who works doubles and has a long commute; someone trying to make ends meet working 13 to 20 hours a day. I want them to know that Blue Point not only hears them and supports them, but we are also trying to rally Congress to make this change by using our voice and our beer.”
Each can of Blue Point’s Voter’s Day Off IPA features a shorter version of the official petition on its label, as well as a place to sign your support for the cause. Drinkers are encouraged to bring attention to the petition and the need for a federal holiday by signing off and mailing the cans to Congress. In addition, Blue Point intends to deliver a bunch of signed cans to Congress at the close of the month.
If you are itching to try the beer and send off a signed can of your own, be warned it’s only available at Blue Point’s Patchogue, New York tasting room. Though cans will make an appearance at three events this month: Blue Point’s 20th Anniversary Party on October 13, at 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge Good Reef Park on October 18, and at the Suffolk County Marathon and Freedom Fest on October 28.
Right now, the focus is on New York, but Lally intends to continue ramping things up with every election cycle. “We plan to do this every election season until we’re successful. We won’t stop until Congress makes this change.”
