This Website Lets You Buy Beer for Furloughed Government Employees

Craft brews for our hard-working, unpaid friends

January 16, 2019 9:00 am

Whatever your opinion of the government shutdown, there are hundreds of thousands of government workers either doing their jobs without pay, not working at all or moonlighting at second jobs to pay the bills.

We should buy ‘em all a beer.

And now we can. The site Pay It Furloughed allows you to purchase craft beers for federal employees in D.C. impacted by the government shutdown, because “beer makes everything better.”

A partnership between Mess Hall, food writer Nevin Martell, 3Advance, and PR firm Quixotic, PIF lets you to donate beer via a dedicated website. As a government employee, you look at the live counter on the site’s homepage, then walk into a participating local brewery in the D.C. area (Atlas Brew Works, DC Brau, Shop Made) and claim a beer by showing a federal ID. As long as beer is available and you have identification, you can drink.

At press time, there were 1,400+ beers donated and 1,290 beers available, meaning government employees are still too busy doing their (currently unpaid) jobs to enjoy. Kudos on work ethic, but seriously: Have a drink or two on all of us.

The site will be available up to seven days after the shutdown ends, and a food pipeline is in the works.

Meanwhile, all federal employees can still imbibe these great $5 shutdown-themed cocktails (including the tequila-forward “Mexico Will Pay For This”) at the D.C.-area Capitol Lounge.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons; Pay It Furlough

MEET US AT YOUR INBOX. FIRST ROUND'S ON US.

Join America's Fastest Growing Spirits Newsletter THE SPILL. Unlock all the reviews, recipes and revelry — and get 15% off award-winning La Tierra de Acre Mezcal.