Gay bars and cktail culture are at a historic crossroads. Will queer nightlife tch up to mastream venu' drks programs?
Contents:
- CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
- ALL COCKTAILS ARE GAY
- GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
- THE FOUR GAYT COCKTAILS THE CASTRO
- GAY THEMED COCKTAILS
- GAY COCKTAIL IAS
- BEER IS SO GAY
- GAY PRI COCKTAILS
- GAY BAR, MEET COCKTAIL BAR
CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
Today's bt gay bars span div, dance clubs, cktail loung and muny spac, helpg to shape popular drkg culture at large. * cocktails are gay *
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.
ALL COCKTAILS ARE GAY
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. * cocktails are gay *
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.
GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
In honor of Pri Month, I brg you a roundup of four of the "gayt" cktails I uld fd around the Castro – where, by the way, ntrast to prev s, 's not so impossible to get a well ma drk no, there's nothg pecially gay about the drks, apart om a uple... * cocktails are gay *
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. “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.
THE FOUR GAYT COCKTAILS THE CASTRO
As we all know, there are untls cktails out there that everyone n enjoy. However, for those the LGBTQIA+ muny, n sometim be hard to fd cktails that reflect our liftyle and experienc. So, we've put together a list of some of our favore gay cktails, perfect for any ocsn! The first cktail * cocktails are gay *
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.
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. 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.
GAY THEMED COCKTAILS
A new group of beer pani and breweri like Gay Beer and Queer Brewg are supportg LGBTQ+ muni while rvg out space the beer world for queerns * cocktails are gay *
“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?
GAY COCKTAIL IAS
Gay Pri is a time to celebrate the LGBTQ muny and all that they have achieved. What better way to do that than wh a drk hand? Here are some recip for cktails that will help you celebrate style. The Rabow Margara is a lorful drk that is perfect for Pri. It is * cocktails are gay *
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. “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. “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.
BEER IS SO GAY
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.
GAY PRI COCKTAILS
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. This turn has led to a rponse of an altogether more lic variety: Gay Water, a new premium nned cktail brand packaged lorful ntaers and named after the slang term ed for vodka and soda water wh lemon or lime, a popular drk served gay bars. Gay Water offers four different varieti of sugar-ee, gluten-ee vodka and soda cktails bed wh var, well, uy flavorg agents: watermelon, peach, lime, and grapeu.
Appearg time to take advantage of the nned cktail boom, Gay Water won't be direct petn wh Bud Light, which is a beer brand. Hodson, a gay man, is not only terted Gay Water appealg to LGTBQ+ nsumers, of urse.
GAY BAR, MEET COCKTAIL BAR
From June 28th to July 3rd, the gay muny New York Cy at the Stonewall rted agast police raids.
GayTim f mother as "a term of rpect for powerful, nfint femy" and n even be a label for cishet women who are queer ins. So many of them have been fearls lears of the gay rights movement, cludg Marsha P.