BRIDGEPORT — Turns out polling places aren't the only sites struggling to attract voters Tuesday.
Maria's Packaged Goods and Community Bar, 960 W. 31st St., thought it would have fun with today's runoff election by offering Bridgeport patrons $8 drink specials named after local politicos. Here's the menu:
Civics has never been so inebriating (DNAinfo/David Matthews)
But with roughly 15 minutes left before polls close, only one drink had been ordered at the Bridgeport bar: Kozlar's, which due to a lack of White Elephant beer is actually a vodka/tea/lemonade cocktail.
"It's a cute idea. It's fun," said Maria's Bartender Natalie Hansen, who has been working at the watering hole about six months. "It might be the time of day. It's early."
Indeed, the bar hosted only a handful of drinkers Tuesday afternoon. Hansen expected the crowd to grow as polls close and results get reported across the 11th Ward, the fabled homeland of the Daley political dynasty.
Maria's Packaged Goods and Community Bar. (DNAinfo/David Matthews)
So what are people drinking at Maria's? Hansen said Abraxas, a barrel-aged Imperial stout that is 11 percent alcohol by volume. Maria's is serving the Perennial Artisan Ales brew in a six-ounce glass for $7.
Politics aside, Hansen said she was partial to Thompson's drink, a Marz draft brewed in Bridgeport. Absent neighborhood bias, Hansen is also fond of the drink for mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, mainly because it includes a Tequila shot.
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