It’s Here, It’s Queer: Introducg Gay Water, A LGBTQIA+ Canned Vodka Soda Brand Aimg to Dtigmatize the Word Gay

Contents:

• BEER IS SO GAY
• MOVE OVER BUD LIGHT, GAY WATER IS HERE AND IT’S QUEER
• IT’S HERE, IT’S QUEER: INTRODUCG GAY WATER, A LGBTQIA+ CANNED VODKA SODA BRAND AIMG TO DTIGMATIZE THE WORD GAY
• GAY MEN AND ALHOL: THE RELATNSHIP WH THE BOTTLE
• GAY BOY DRINKS
• WHAT IS THE GAYT DRK
• GAY MEN, WE HAVE A DRKG PROBLEM
• WHAT MAK THIS BEER GAY?
• GAY, FABULO, AND DRKG MYSELF TO DEATH
• WHY IS ICED COFFEE SO GAY?

BEER IS SO 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. “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.

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.”.

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.

IT’S HERE, IT’S QUEER: INTRODUCG GAY WATER, A LGBTQIA+ CANNED VODKA SODA BRAND AIMG TO DTIGMATIZE THE WORD GAY

Gay Beer, Dyke Beer, and Queer Brewg are among the emergg group of beer producers that are centerg queer inty and queer muny, whether by highlightg queer brewers, donatg some profs to queer chari, or creatg queer third spac — munal spac distct om home and work — at a time when they’re disappearg. The pair were spired while drkg at Juli’, a historic gay bar New York Cy that was the se of early “sip-” protts, where gay men would drk at bars that refed to serve homosexuals. Together, they were tryg to figure out why there wasn’t already a beer posned more for queer people, which led Moore and Pazmo to realize that gay beer was a project they uld take on themselv themselv.

Moore and Pazmo note that “gay” also means “happy, ” a nnotatn hasn’t really held s, but still gets ed as a cheeky way to eli the haters. “A lot of bars are not wantg to say they’re lbian bars, they’re wantg to say they’re queer bars — but a lot of gay male bars keep sayg they’re gay male bars, ” she says. For Moore and Pazmo, that meant an “Amerina whout the Amerin flag” sign, somethg that reflected the athetics of Juli’ Bar, and the gay men of the ’60s who participated the “sip ” protts.

Wae says, “Many were pleased to see the lnch of somethg actively tryg to make change wh a stagnant and homogeno dtry, and queer and trans folk were pleased to see somethg that reprented them a way that hadn’t been done before. 1 In fact, studi show that people who self-intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual are approximately 2 tim as likely to have an addictn than straight peers and transgenr dividuals are close to 4 tim as likely. Rearch suggts that gay alhol treatment programs mt nsir important factors such as sexual objectifitn, the tersectnaly of multiple margalized inti—pecially the impacts of racism—and high occurrenc of mental health ndns.

GAY MEN AND ALHOL: THE RELATNSHIP WH THE BOTTLE

While rearch has not drawn specific nclns about why gay women are so much more likely to mise or bee addicted to alhol than straight women, studi do show certa risk factors for alhol abe the muny. Studi dite that gay women experience certa mental health ncerns—many of which are associated wh a higher rate of substance mise—more often than straight women. Gay men have been observed to mise alhol as a pg mechanism, as well as part of a pattern of risk-takg behavrs that may be related to addictn, trma, peer fluence, or mental health ndns.

Dpe advancements both the unrstandg and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmted fectns, some people still stigmatize gay men based on the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.

Gay men of lor are vulnerable to addnal systemic opprsn, which n be related to the homophobic beliefs about specific margalized muni or the crimalizatn of homosexualy. This is particularly ncerng when nsirg that a 2007-2017 Centers for Disease Control and Preventn (CDC) report showed that over 23% of lbian, gay, or bisexual high school stunts and almost 27% of stunts who were unsure of their sexualy had ed illic dgs, pared to jt over 12% of straight stunts.

GAY BOY DRINKS

Named after the nickname given to the vodka and soda bo that’s equently orred gay bars, Gay Water wants to be the drk of choice for the queer muny. And while Gay Water’s four sugar-ee flavors, watermelon, lime, peach and grapeu, n be purchased select retailers, Gay Water’s reach is expand through onle sal.

WHAT IS THE GAYT DRK

Between the John Waters film, Denver Zoo’s gay celebry uple, and the blow-up Pri party favors, ’s safe to say that the flamgo is a gay in. This cholate vanilla vodka marti is a ky homage to California’s first openly gay elected official and arguably the most famo Amerin LGBT polician: Harvey Milk. 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.

GAY MEN, WE HAVE A DRKG PROBLEM

Gay Water is a new vodka soda pany lookg to shake thgs up and reprent the queer muny by stigmatizg the word gay wh s boozy nned beverag. The fn of “gay” means “happy, ” yet over the years perceptn of the word shifted to negative as people began g as a disparagg term for people and thgs.

WHAT MAK THIS BEER GAY?

“There has been a distct lack of LGBTQ+ reprentatn the alhol dtry, but Gay Water aims to change this, ” says Spencer Hodson, Founr and CEO of Gay Water.

The name of the brand fs the product sce the term ‘gay water’ has been known wh the queer muny for some time now as a lloquialism for a vodka soda. There are several brands jog on the love cludg Gay Beer, Supergay Vodka and Drag Superstar RuPl’s le of nned cktails and mocktails, Hoe of Love.

GAY, FABULO, AND DRKG MYSELF TO DEATH

Sometim I liken the bottle to “the mistrs” we’re havg an affair wh (I e this term even wh gay men, even though ’s a ltle heterosexist). For the purpos of this experiment, the signatn and selectn of gay drks has been left to profsnals--real live bartenrs real live gay bars.

Inlitely phemized as a "wrkle room, " Thumpers appeals largely to gay elrs, boastg not only a full-service bar, but also an upsle dg room and performanc by jazz pianists. The subject's first "gay drk" of the night was a Grape Nehi (2 oz vodka, 2 oz raspberry liqur, lemon, blend wh ice), given an extra splash of gay by our acmodatg bartenr, who crowned the drk wh a spear of marascho cherri and a paper umbrella. As he imbibed drk number two--a Cabana Boy Rum Sunset (2 oz Cabana Boy m, 4 oz lemon-lime soda), scribed as "really, really sweet"--he gamely shared his "gayt" memori om childhood, om roller-skatg to the Village People to his once-passnate love for N.

WHY IS ICED COFFEE SO GAY?

Wh gay drk number two down the hatch, the subject had bee noticeably tipsier; as we left Thumpers, he was sg broadly, and once on the street, he generoly gave a buck to a one-legged hobo. As we walked to our send statn, I brought up the topic of homosexualy, and got a dose of booze-fueled ndor: "I've sucked some dick, " the subject announced, gog on to reunt his llege-era dallianc wh those of his own sex.

Next we me to the stylish dance club Blu, where the iendly boy-tenr answered my ll for "the gayt drk the hoe" by whippg up an Aquapolan (3 oz orange-lemon aquav, 1 oz Grand Marnier, dash of orange juice, splash of cranberry juice/sour mix), which the subject scribed as "good" and "slhy. " After I got the subject his send Aquapolan, we retired to Blu's roof, where the full impact of the eveng's many "gay drks" beme evint as subject gamely stripped off his shirt (see Figure 9).