Gay Water is a nned vodka soda and liftyle brand curated by and for the queer muny. We speak to founr Spencer Hodson about the makg of the brand, the challeng he's faced along the way, and the greater gay good.
Contents:
- CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
- INFLUENCER TURNED ENTREPRENR HOP TO RECLAIM THE WORD ‘GAY’ WH GAY WATER DRK
- HI, GAY! - CANNED VODKA SODA BRAND CREATED BY AND FOR THE LGBTQ+ MUNY AIMS TO DTIGMATIZE THE WORD 'GAY', LNCH WH FOUR INIC FLAVORS
- AS MAJOR BRANDS WAVER, GAY WATER AIMS FOR AUTHENTICY
- FABULO FIZZ: D2C HARD SELTZER BRAND GAY WATER COM OUT
- GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
- A DRK FOR THE COMMUNY - GAY WATER
- RACG TO PRERVE THE HISTORY OF MAE’S 1ST GAY RIGHTS ANIZATN
- ‘GAY WATER’ IS A NEW VODKA SODA STARTUP WH A MISSN TO CELEBRATE LGBTQ+ INTY
CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
A new drk brand the Uned Stat lled "Gay Water" is lnchg wh the hop of puttg LGBTQ products store shelv. * gay water founder *
An entreprenr lnched a nned cktail this week lled “Gay Water” that’s aimed at LGBTQ drkers — and said he’s lookg to palize on Bud Light’s mistak.
But “Gay Water” — which adopts a moniker the gay muny has long given to the simple vodka and soda cktail — has been spired by the dtup to bee even bolr about the dience ’s targetg, founr and CEO Spencer Hodson told The Post. Gay Water — a nned cktail brand that plays on the gay muny’s lloquialism for the vodka-and-soda mixed drk — lnched on Wednday and promis to unrstand s dience better than Bud Light.
INFLUENCER TURNED ENTREPRENR HOP TO RECLAIM THE WORD ‘GAY’ WH GAY WATER DRK
For many years, the term 'gay water' has been known wh the queer muny as a lloquialism for a vodka soda. As of today, the brand Gay Water officially lnch to brg that phrase to the mastream as one of the first alholic beverag found and ground the LGBTQ+ muny. * gay water founder *
The 30-year-old Hodson said he is g suggtive — albe playful — msagg and imagery Gay Water’s social media and webse, cludg a provotive nod to the 12-ounce n’s 6. “Our missn is to -stigmatize the word ‘gay’ and start to create reprentatn spac that tradnally don’t have queer-owned products, let alone products wh the word ‘gay’ their tle, ” Hodson told The Post. “When was the last time you saw the word gay at a rtrant, bar, liquor store, or grocery store?
HI, GAY! - CANNED VODKA SODA BRAND CREATED BY AND FOR THE LGBTQ+ MUNY AIMS TO DTIGMATIZE THE WORD 'GAY', LNCH WH FOUR INIC FLAVORS
Growg up, Spencer Hodson said he mostly heard the term “gay” a negative ntext. Now, he wants to stigmatize the word and create reprentatn spac that tradnally don’t have LGBTQ-owned products, one Gay Water at a time. * gay water founder *
The word ‘gay’ origally was fed as happy, and we’re hopg to remd folks of that by beg prent, ” he add. Founr Spencer Hodson, a gay man, says the brand is about reclaimg the word “gay” as a word that “jt means happy. Gay Water’s brandg is full of playful, suggtive msagg.
“Part of the pot of lnchg outsi of Pri month is to rerce the msage that Gay Water is here to make the LGBTQ+ muny more visible 365 days a year, not jt a sgle month, ” he said.
AS MAJOR BRANDS WAVER, GAY WATER AIMS FOR AUTHENTICY
Fabulo Fizz: D2C Hard Seltzer Brand Gay Water Com Out - 07/21/2023 * gay water founder *
Influencer turned CEO Spencer Hodson has lnched Gay Water wh the hop of reclaimg the word ‘gay’. He soon grew a followg on social media wh his relatable ntent on what datg is like as a gay lennial. While on holiday wh a iend, Hodson orred a vodka soda and asked his iend if she knew that olr generatns referred to the drk as “gay water.
FABULO FIZZ: D2C HARD SELTZER BRAND GAY WATER COM OUT
Lnchg Thursday is a brightly lored nned vodka and soda beverage lled Gay Water that proudly displays who ’s for, stead of backg off om support for the LGBTQ+ muny like Bud Light did. * gay water founder *
Gay Water is a nned vodka soda that is now available the Uned Stat.
Through Gay Water, Hodson aspir to drive posive change through shared valu. As Gay Water mak s but the Uned Stat, the brand is aimg to foster a sense of belongg and celebratn for the LGBTQ+ muny and s alli.
GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
Democratic printial ndidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a history of repeatedly sharg unfound nspiraci that man-ma chemils the environment uld be makg children gay or transgenr and g the femizatn of boys and masculizatn of girls. * gay water founder *
Hodson hop that Gay Water will help to -stigmatise the word and “create reprentatn spac that tradnally don’t have queer-owned products. Gay Water is lnchg the USA. “The word ‘gay’ origally was fed as happy, ” he ntu, “and we’re hopg to remd folks of that by beg visible to queer people areas where they don’t have muny or feel supported.
On s ial lnch, Gay Water be available 35 stat – cludg Florida, Tennsee and Kansas – all stat that have recently troduced ntroversial anti-LGBTQ+ legislatn.
A DRK FOR THE COMMUNY - GAY WATER
Steve Bull once raced agast time to try to save the memoirs of one of Mae's gay rights pneers. His trip led him down memory lane. * gay water founder *
In a sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out. In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that. “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer.
RACG TO PRERVE THE HISTORY OF MAE’S 1ST GAY RIGHTS ANIZATN
Gay Water, however, is out and proud.
The nned cktail is named after a lloquialism given to the popular mixed drk (vodka and soda) orred at bars by the gay muny. “Puttg a product wh the word gay the tle is reprentatn self,” which he hop reclaims the word om the negativy ’s sometim associated wh. He thought of creatg Gay Water about a year ago while on a vatn wh his iend that had got a job wh the beverage dtry.
The two chatted about the limed amount of gay people wh , and wh Hodson burnt out om his tradnal day job tech, started the nned cktail.
‘GAY WATER’ IS A NEW VODKA SODA STARTUP WH A MISSN TO CELEBRATE LGBTQ+ INTY
Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water.
“Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”.
For now, Gay Water is sold largely onle (wh a few retailers) and four sugar-ee flavors — watermelon, lime, peach and grapeu — at lnch. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN. “There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said.