New 'gay water' looks to avoid Bud Light disaster - Washgton Tim

Contents:

• CHARL BARKLEY FENDS LGBTQIA+ MUNY, BUD LIGHT EXPLETIVE-FILLED RANT: ‘IF YOU’RE GAY, GOD BLS YOU’
• NEW ‘GAY WATER’ LOOKS TO AVOID BUD LIGHT DISASTER
• COMPANY GO FULL-ON BUD LIGHT WH ‘GAY WATER’ RELEASE
• MOVE OVER BUD LIGHT, GAY WATER IS HERE AND IT’S QUEER
• EXPERIENC OF LIGHT GAY AND LBIAN NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENC
• CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER

CHARL BARKLEY FENDS LGBTQIA+ MUNY, BUD LIGHT EXPLETIVE-FILLED RANT: ‘IF YOU’RE GAY, GOD BLS YOU’

Me unr fire for s ial silence regardg a Florida bill rtrictg classroom discsn of sexual orientatn and genr inty — dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by crics. Durg the tumult, Pixar employe lled out Disney executiv for cuttg “nearly every moment of overtly gay affectn” om the animatn stud’s films. 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.

NEW ‘GAY WATER’ LOOKS TO AVOID BUD LIGHT DISASTER

Gay Water, however, is out and proud.

COMPANY GO FULL-ON BUD LIGHT WH ‘GAY WATER’ RELEASE

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. 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.

MOVE OVER BUD LIGHT, GAY WATER IS HERE AND IT’S QUEER

“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.”.

EXPERIENC OF LIGHT GAY AND LBIAN NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENC

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.

Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space. A new nned cktail lled Gay Water is lookg to attract LGBTQ drkers and avoid the pfalls of Bud Light’s disastro marketg partnership wh transgenr fluencer Dylan Mulvaney.

CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER

The mixture of vodka and soda water, long known rmally as “gay water” the LGBTQ muny, is the brachild of 30-year-old gay entreprenr Spencer Hodson. He noted that the nctn aims “to stigmatize the word ‘gay’ by brgg reprentatn to spac that have not tradnally featured queer products, such as bars, liquor stor, grocery stor, rtrants, hotels and more.

Hodson, who is fancg Gay Water wh his own money pl backg om fay and iends, his brightly lored ns are leang to their gayns stead of avoidg .