How the vodka soda became ‘gay water’

Late final 12 months, 33-year-old Justin Ruka of Orlando met a flight attendant at a homosexual bar. A few month later, Ruka noticed a well-known face coming down the aisle throughout an Alaska Airways flight to San Francisco. 

The flight attendant wanted just one guess to know what Ruka was consuming. In a flash, Ruka’s tray had two tiny bottles of Tito’s vodka, a can of seltzer water and a lime flavoring packet. Voila: vodka soda.

“It is form of cliche,” Ruka mentioned of his drink, however “it was a very nice option to kick off that journey.”

The mix of soda water and vodka has lengthy been a fixture of boozy LGBTQ+ life, significantly amongst homosexual males. Over time, it has grow to be a cultural touchpoint and considerably of an inside joke throughout the group.

The so-called “homosexual water” has created enterprise alternatives for entrepreneurs starting from native bar house owners to canned cocktail makers.

A number of gay-identifying males informed CNBC that the drink is their go-to as a result of it is low in sugar and energy. It will probably additionally result in much less of a hangover in contrast with options, akin to tequila or gin, they mentioned. Some add a lime wedge or a splash of cranberry juice to their vodka water for additional taste.

There’s little latest knowledge on LGBTQ+ customers and particular alcohol preferences, regardless of some exhibiting the next propensity to spend within the class as a complete. However anecdotal proof or a peek inside a homosexual bar show the drink’s distinctive recognition.

“It is one thing that you just see all over the place,” mentioned Lucas Hilderbrand, a movie and media research professor on the College of California, Irvine. He documented homosexual consuming institutions throughout the nation in his 2023 ebook “The Bars Are Ours.”

Simply take a look at the itemizing for “homosexual water” within the on-line City Dictionary, which explains slang. It names vodka soda with a lemon or lime on the aspect, calling the concoction a queer man’s “excellent gateway to buzz and a small waistline.”

The libation has been the topic of numerous memes and jokes on social media platforms akin to Instagram and X. A type of got here from Houston-based lawyer Jeff Watters, who known as the vodka soda the “homosexual water” of the nighttime in a publish on X. Its daytime counterpart, he mentioned, is Food plan Coke.

Among the lore facilities across the notoriously heavy pours from bartenders at homosexual institutions. Watters mentioned that in a latest Satisfaction Month occasion hosted at a usually “straight” venue, a buddy remarked that Watters’ vodka soda is perhaps stronger at an LGBTQ+ bar.

The membership soda within the drink, Hilderbrand mentioned, is a successor to tonic water, which was fashionable in these institutions earlier than 2000. Extra broadly, he mentioned, glowing water has lengthy been related to the homosexual group: Within the Eighties cult basic “Heathers,” for instance, a bottle of mineral water is left as a clue to influence police that two lifeless soccer gamers had been lovers.

Vodka, in the meantime, has all the time been a spirit of selection for the group, Hilderbrand mentioned. This may be tied partly to decadeslong efforts by vodka producers to market on to LGBTQ+ customers, he mentioned.

At Henry’s Upstairs in Lawrence, Kansas, a cocktail model of the drink, known as Homosexual Ice Water, is much and away its greatest vendor.

For $9, clients get a mix of lemongrass vodka, chamomile tea-infused vermouth, sherry wine, elderflower and key lime acid. The drink is premixed in a keg, then poured over ice and topped with a selfmade tonic water.

“We wished to take the vodka soda and elevate it,” mentioned proprietor Mary Holt. “Folks simply fell in love with it.”

Her workforce was conscious of the homosexual water moniker once they named the drink, however there was an advocacy angle additionally they felt was necessary. When Holt takes Homosexual Ice Water kegs to exterior occasions, she mentioned, its identify requires Kansans to acknowledge queer folks at a time when LGBTQ+ rights have more and more grow to be a political soccer.

In different phrases, Holt mentioned, folks should “say homosexual.”

Greater than 1,000 miles away, the vodka soda is the most well-liked combination in well-known New York Metropolis homosexual bars co-owned by Eric Einstein, together with Items and Playhouse. The drink accounts for round 3 of each 10 orders, he mentioned.

“It is actually our bread and butter,” Einstein mentioned. “It is simply so commonplace. It is form of like asking for a pack of gum at a bodega.”

Einstein mentioned this affinity for membership soda has a enterprise profit, too. When a buyer orders simply soda water together with alcohol, the bar saves cash, since no flavoring syrup is used for the mixer.

For Brendan Oudekerk, vodka soda is an easy and universally preferred refreshment to decide on when shopping for for a number of pals directly. He mentioned bartenders on the LGBTQ+ venues he frequents in Washington, D.C., know his “Rose Kennedy” order. Named after the political household’s matriarch, the drink refers to a basic vodka soda with a splash of cranberry juice.

“I might be a bartender at a homosexual bar, and I’d simply make the vodka sodas able to go, as a result of that is all folks need,” the 34-year-old monetary analyst mentioned. “It sounds so primary, however it’s true.”

Understanding the vodka soda’s recognition inside their group, LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs have formulated the drink into canned cocktails, a beverage sort gaining favor.

World of Marvel, the manufacturing firm behind competitors present “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” launched a “vodka soda citrus” canned cocktail earlier this 12 months. It was one in all a number of launched in tandem with the sixteenth season of the Emmy Award-winning actuality program, through which drag queens compete in opposition to one another.

“Folks name it the homosexual Tremendous Bowl,” mentioned Tom Campbell, head of improvement for World of Marvel and government producer of the present.

The corporate’s Home of Love arm supplied samples at viewing events for the present across the nation. That kicked off a market-by-market technique, the place the workforce builds a retail presence in communities with homosexual bars already internet hosting these kind of occasions, in accordance with Campbell.

However there’s alternative past simply geographic areas with bustling homosexual life, he mentioned. The rising prevalence of drag brunches in communities that have not usually been deemed queer havens across the nation create new entry factors. And contestants on the present function “inbuilt” influencers for the product, which will also be bought on-line, he mentioned.

Campbell mentioned non-LGBTQ+ customers usually comply with the group’s traits, whether or not they understand it or not. This may imply a model or drink that is at the moment most popular by this group can garner a wider enchantment down the street.

“Queer tradition is popular culture, and popular culture is queer tradition,” he mentioned. “Our present is form of on the reducing fringe of what persons are considering, saying, sporting, doing and consuming.”

Retail can be central to the enterprise for Homosexual Water, a startup providing canned cocktail variations of vodka soda. Whereas founder Spencer Hoddeson acknowledged that the identify could not ring a bell for these exterior the LGBTQ+ group, he mentioned it is very important “create conversations” in aisles via an unabashedly queer model.

“As a group, an enormous matter has all the time been illustration in media,” Hoddeson mentioned. “However what about illustration in your grocery retailer or your liquor retailer — areas that folks frequent bodily?”

Since founding the model in July, Hoddeson has positioned the product on cabinets of retail chains Whole Wine & Extra and BevMo. Homosexual Water will also be delivered throughout the New York Metropolis space via Gopuff or shipped to most states.

Hoddeson mentioned he is run into challenges courting buyers who see the LGBTQ+ client as a “query mark.” His model got here into existence shortly after the meltdown round Bud Mild‘s relationship with a transgender influencer rattled the alcohol and advertising and marketing industries.

However he mentioned the enterprise has additionally felt a “halo impact” from being an brazenly queer-run model. A technique that materializes: Allies will present their solidarity by buying the product, given its connection to the group.

Different manufacturers are leaping on the canned vodka soda development, together with Kylie Jenner’s Sprinter line and Boston Beer‘s Actually model. However Hoddeson mentioned he is hopeful customers will go for objects which have socially minded missions behind them. For Homosexual Water, he mentioned, that at the moment takes the type of product donations to fundraisers related to LGBTQ+ causes. Neither Sprinter nor Boston Beer responded to CNBC’s requests for remark.

Each the Home of Love and Homosexual Water merchandise have 4% alcohol content material. The previous’s vodka soda citrus is 100 energy per can, whereas Homosexual Water comprises 80.

Drink makers aren’t the one companies centered on the LGBTQ+ group which are capitalizing on the beverage’s cultural cachet. The Homosexual Bar Store, a specialty retailer, sells an 11-ounce, $49 candle that smells like a vodka soda with a lime garnish.

The product’s itemizing showers its inspiration with reward: “As a substitute of paying $12 at a crowded bar, mild up this candle to reminisce within the scent of the best drink ever created.”

Regardless of all of the fanfare, a dislike for the vodka soda’s style is sufficient to push folks akin to Victor Tran away from the pack.

The 24-year-old Virginia resident mentioned he is open to many forms of drinks. He begins a typical evening out with a combination of sugar-free Purple Bull and vodka, he mentioned. In a while, he’ll flip to beer.

“I can see why it is form of seen as ‘manly,’ as a result of it is like a frat drink,” Tran mentioned. “We have to make beer enjoyable and girly, too.”

Disclosure: Homosexual Water founder Spencer Hoddeson is a former worker of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC.