How the vodka soda grew to become 'homosexual water'

Late final yr, 33-year-old Justin Ruka of Orlando met a flight attendant at a homosexual bar. A couple of month later, Ruka noticed a well-recognized 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 ingesting. 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 sort of cliche,” Ruka mentioned of his drink, however “it was a very nice approach to kick off that journey.”

The mixture of soda water and vodka has lengthy been a fixture of boozy LGBTQ+ life, significantly amongst homosexual males. Over time, it has turn into 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 homeowners to canned cocktail makers.

A number of gay-identifying males instructed CNBC that the drink is their go-to as a result of it is low in sugar and energy. It will possibly additionally result in much less of a hangover in contrast with options, reminiscent of 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 current information on LGBTQ+ customers and particular alcohol preferences, regardless of some exhibiting a higher propensity to spend within the class as a complete. However anecdotal proof or a peek inside a homosexual bar show the drink’s distinctive reputation.

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

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

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

A few of the lore facilities across the notoriously heavy pours from bartenders at homosexual institutions. Watters mentioned that in a current Pleasure Month occasion hosted at a usually “straight” venue, a pal remarked that Watters’ vodka soda may be stronger at an LGBTQ+ bar.

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

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

Her staff was conscious of the homosexual water moniker after they named the drink, however there was an advocacy angle additionally they felt was essential. When Holt takes Homosexual Ice Water kegs to exterior occasions, she mentioned, its title requires Kansans to acknowledge queer individuals at a time when LGBTQ+ rights have more and more turn into a political football.

In different phrases, Holt mentioned, individuals must “say gay.”

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 kind 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 buddies 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 traditional vodka soda with a splash of cranberry juice.

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

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

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

“Individuals name it the homosexual Tremendous Bowl,” mentioned Tom Campbell, head of growth 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 staff builds a retail presence in communities with homosexual bars already internet hosting a majority of these occasions, based on Campbell.

However there’s alternative past simply geographic places 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 “in-built” influencers for the product, which will also be bought on-line, he mentioned.

Campbell mentioned non-LGBTQ+ customers typically comply with the group’s developments, whether or not they understand it or not. This could imply a model or drink that is at present most well-liked 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 sort of on the slicing fringe of what persons are pondering, saying, carrying, doing and ingesting.”

Retail can also be central to the enterprise for Gay Water, a startup providing canned cocktail variations of vodka soda. Whereas founder Spencer Hoddeson acknowledged that the title might not ring a bell for these exterior the LGBTQ+ group, he mentioned you will need to “create conversations” in aisles by an unabashedly queer model.

“As a group, an enormous subject has all the time been illustration in media,” Hoddeson mentioned. “However what about illustration in your grocery retailer or your liquor retailer — areas that individuals 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 by 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 Light‘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 method 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 pattern, together with Kylie Jenner’s Sprinter line and Boston Beer‘s Actually model. However Hoddeson mentioned he is hopeful consumers will go for gadgets which have socially minded missions behind them. For Homosexual Water, he mentioned, that at present 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 incorporates 80.

Drink makers aren’t the one companies targeted 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 listing showers its inspiration with reward: “As a substitute of paying $12 at a crowded bar, gentle up this candle to reminisce within the scent of the best drink ever created.”