Gay bars and cktail culture are at a historic crossroads. Will queer nightlife tch up to mastream venu' drks programs?
Contents:
- CANNED COCKTAIL GAY WATER AIMS TO RIGHT BUD LIGHT'S LACK OF LGBTQ+ SUPPORT
- AI IMAG OF CELEBS ON VER OF GAY PORN MAGAZ
- GAY BAR, MEET COCKTAIL BAR
CANNED COCKTAIL GAY WATER AIMS TO RIGHT BUD LIGHT'S LACK OF LGBTQ+ SUPPORT
Today's bt gay bars span div, dance clubs, cktail loung and muny spac, helpg to shape popular drkg culture at large. * cocktails gay gossip *
“It’s que different om earlier s, ” says Shepard, “pecially pre-Stonewall, when simply beg willg to serve gay men or lbians was enough to secure a grateful clientele, regardls of the qualy of the drks or the tablishment. In the 1960s, early eratns of gay bars were often owned by straight people (many nnected to anized crime, who didn’t fear the illegaly of servg homosexuals), known for servg watered-down and overpriced drks, explog the sire any queer people had to jt be a safe (or safe enough) space. As gay polil movements stood up agast opprsn—endg some state laws prohibg gay bars om existg, and th, makg gay bar ownership more accsible and approachable—the qualy and variety of drks served at the spac expand.
“When you thk ‘gay bar, ’ you don’t thk they’re focg on cktails; they’re focg on a space that’s clive, somewhere you drk vodka-tonics, ” says Nobody’s Darlg -owner Renda Riddle. A few hours away Philalphia’s Gayborhood, Cockatoo, which opened 2021, is also creatg more queer space differentiated om the typil gay dive. Wh low- and no-alhol drks available, Cockatoo offers an antidote to the mass-produced light beers and well drks found at most other gay bars.
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.
AI IMAG OF CELEBS ON VER OF GAY PORN MAGAZ
DataLounge - Gay Celebry Gossip, Gay Polics, Gay News and Potls Bchery sce 1995. * cocktails gay gossip *
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.
GAY BAR, MEET COCKTAIL BAR
* cocktails gay gossip *
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. 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.