How the vodka soda turned ‘gay water’

Late past yr, 33-12 months-previous Justin Ruka of Orlando fulfilled a flight attendant at a gay bar. About a thirty day period afterwards, Ruka observed a acquainted face coming down the aisle during an Alaska Airways flight to San Francisco. 

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

“It truly is sort of cliche,” Ruka explained of his drink, but “it was a seriously great way to kick off that journey.”

The mix of soda h2o and vodka has long been a fixture of boozy LGBTQ+ lifetime, specifically among the homosexual men. Around time, it has turn into a cultural touchpoint and fairly of an inside of joke inside of the community.

The so-named “homosexual drinking water” has developed enterprise options for business people ranging from regional bar proprietors to canned cocktail makers.

Several gay-determining men informed CNBC that the consume is their go-to mainly because it really is minimal in sugar and energy. It can also lead to much less of a hangover when compared with alternate options, this sort of as tequila or gin, they claimed. Some increase a lime wedge or a splash of cranberry juice to their vodka water for additional taste.

There’s very little modern info on LGBTQ+ customers and precise alcohol preferences, in spite of some showing a increased propensity to commit in the category as a full. But anecdotal evidence or a peek within a homosexual bar establish the drink’s special attractiveness.

“It really is one thing that you see everywhere you go,” reported Lucas Hilderbrand, a film and media scientific tests professor at the University of California, Irvine. He documented gay drinking establishments across the country in his 2023 guide “The Bars Are Ours.”

Just look at the listing for “gay water” in the on line Urban Dictionary, which clarifies slang. It names vodka soda with a lemon or lime on the side, contacting the concoction a queer man’s “excellent gateway to a very good buzz and a modest waistline.”

The libation has been the subject matter of numerous memes and jokes on social media platforms such as Instagram and X. 1 of those came from Houston-centered lawyer Jeff Watters, who called the vodka soda the “homosexual water” of the nighttime in a submit on X. Its daytime counterpart, he claimed, is Food plan Coke.

Some of the lore facilities all over the notoriously major pours from bartenders at homosexual establishments. Watters explained that through a current Pride Thirty day period function hosted at a typically “straight” venue, a pal remarked that Watters’ vodka soda may be much better at an LGBTQ+ bar.

The club soda in the consume, Hilderbrand said, is a successor to tonic water, which was well-known in these institutions in advance of 2000. Additional broadly, he mentioned, glowing water has very long been involved with the gay neighborhood: In the 1980s cult traditional “Heathers,” for case in point, a bottle of mineral water is still left as a clue to persuade police that two useless football players were enthusiasts.

Vodka, meanwhile, has generally been a spirit of alternative for the community, Hilderbrand claimed. This can be tied in element to decadeslong initiatives by vodka producers to market place instantly to LGBTQ+ people, he explained.

At Henry’s Upstairs in Lawrence, Kansas, a cocktail version of the consume, referred to as Gay Ice Drinking water, is much and away its best seller.

For $9, buyers get a blend of lemongrass vodka, chamomile tea-infused vermouth, sherry wine, elderflower and important lime acid. The consume is premixed in a keg, then poured above ice and topped with a selfmade tonic h2o.

“We required to choose the vodka soda and elevate it,” mentioned owner Mary Holt. “Individuals just fell in adore with it.”

Her workforce was mindful of the homosexual drinking water moniker when they named the consume, but there was an advocacy angle they also felt was crucial. When Holt takes Gay Ice Water kegs to exterior activities, she said, its title necessitates Kansans to admit queer people today at a time when LGBTQ+ rights have more and more grow to be a political football.

In other phrases, Holt mentioned, men and women have to “say homosexual.”

Additional than 1,000 miles away, the vodka soda is the most well-liked combination in properly-recognised New York City homosexual bars co-owned by Eric Einstein, including Parts and Playhouse. The drink accounts for close to 3 of every 10 orders, he stated.

“It is actually our bread and butter,” Einstein stated. “It is just so commonplace. It really is sort of like inquiring for a pack of gum at a bodega.”

Einstein explained this affinity for club soda has a company advantage, way too. When a consumer orders just soda h2o along with alcoholic beverages, the bar saves dollars, given that no flavoring syrup is made use of for the mixer.

For Brendan Oudekerk, vodka soda is a basic and universally preferred refreshment to opt for when obtaining for quite a few buddies at when. He claimed bartenders at the LGBTQ+ venues he frequents in Washington, D.C., know his “Rose Kennedy” buy. Named soon after the political family’s matriarch, the consume refers to a typical vodka soda with a splash of cranberry juice.

“I might be a bartender at a gay bar, and I would just make the vodka sodas prepared to go, simply because that’s all people today want,” the 34-calendar year-outdated monetary analyst claimed. “It appears so standard, but it’s correct.”

Being aware of the vodka soda’s attractiveness in just their neighborhood, LGBTQ+ business people have formulated the drink into canned cocktails, a beverage form getting favor.

Globe of Speculate, the creation corporation driving level of competition exhibit “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” released a “vodka soda citrus” canned cocktail earlier this 12 months. It was just one of several released in tandem with the 16th year of the Emmy Award-profitable truth method, in which drag queens contend in opposition to each and every other.

“Individuals get in touch with it the gay Tremendous Bowl,” explained Tom Campbell, head of improvement for Earth of Ponder and executive producer of the present.

The company’s Residence of Appreciate arm presented samples at viewing parties for the show close to the state. That kicked off a industry-by-marketplace approach, where the group builds a retail presence in communities with homosexual bars now internet hosting these types of functions, in accordance to Campbell.

But there’s option past just geographic places with bustling gay daily life, he explained. The rising prevalence of drag brunches in communities that have not generally been deemed queer havens around the nation generate new entry points. And contestants on the display serve as “crafted in” influencers for the item, which can also be obtained on the net, he reported.

Campbell said non-LGBTQ+ individuals typically adhere to the community’s traits, no matter if they recognize it or not. This can imply a model or drink which is now most popular by this group can garner a broader appeal down the road.

“Queer lifestyle is pop lifestyle, and pop society is queer tradition,” he reported. “Our demonstrate is kind of on the reducing edge of what men and women are pondering, indicating, sporting, executing and consuming.”

Retail is also central to the organization for Homosexual Drinking water, a startup offering canned cocktail versions of vodka soda. When founder Spencer Hoddeson acknowledged that the name may well not ring a bell for all those outside the LGBTQ+ local community, he reported it is crucial to “develop discussions” in aisles via an unabashedly queer manufacturer.

“As a neighborhood, a significant matter has usually been representation in media,” Hoddeson claimed. “But what about illustration in your grocery shop or your liquor shop — areas that people frequent bodily?”

Considering that founding the brand in July, Hoddeson has placed the product or service on cabinets of retail chains Full Wine & A lot more and BevMo. Gay Drinking water can also be delivered in just the New York Metropolis region via Gopuff or transported to most states.

Hoddeson claimed he is operate into troubles courting traders who see the LGBTQ+ consumer as a “question mark.” His brand name came into existence soon just after the meltdown around Bud Light-weight‘s relationship with a transgender influencer rattled the liquor and internet marketing industries.

But he claimed the organization has also felt a “halo outcome” from staying an overtly queer-run model. One way that materializes: Allies will demonstrate their solidarity by buying the merchandise, provided its relationship to the neighborhood.

Other models are jumping on the canned vodka soda development, like Kylie Jenner’s Sprinter line and Boston Beer‘s Certainly brand. But Hoddeson stated he is hopeful buyers will decide for merchandise that have socially minded missions driving them. For Gay H2o, he reported, that now normally takes the variety of solution donations to fundraisers affiliated with LGBTQ+ causes. Neither Sprinter nor Boston Beer responded to CNBC’s requests for comment.

Both of those the Property of Adore and Homosexual Drinking water products have 4% alcohol content material. The former’s vodka soda citrus is 100 calories for each can, although Gay Water includes 80.

Drink makers are not the only firms concentrated on the LGBTQ+ group that are capitalizing on the beverage’s cultural cachet. The Gay Bar Shop, a specialty retailer, sells an 11-ounce, $49 candle that smells like a vodka soda with a lime garnish.

The product’s listing showers its inspiration with praise: “In its place of shelling out $12 at a crowded bar, light-weight up this candle to reminisce in the scent of the biggest drink at any time created.”

Inspite of all the fanfare, a dislike for the vodka soda’s style is plenty of to force people today these types of as Victor Tran away from the pack.

The 24-year-outdated Virginia resident stated he is open to a lot of sorts of drinks. He begins a standard night time out with a mixture of sugar-no cost Pink Bull and vodka, he said. Later on on, he’ll transform to beer.

“I can see why it’s sort of found as ‘manly,’ since it’s like a frat consume,” Tran claimed. “We will need to make beer enjoyable and girly, much too.”

Disclosure: Homosexual Drinking water founder Spencer Hoddeson is a previous employee of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC.