How the vodka soda turned ‘homosexual 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 type of cliche,” Ruka stated of his drink, however “it was a very nice method 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 develop into a cultural touchpoint and considerably of an inside joke inside 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 advised CNBC that the drink is their go-to as a result of it is low in sugar and energy. It may well additionally result in much less of a hangover in contrast with options, resembling tequila or gin, they stated. Some add a lime wedge or a splash of cranberry juice to their vodka soda for further taste.

There’s little latest information on LGBTQ+ shoppers and particular alcohol preferences, regardless of some displaying a increased 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 just see in all places,” stated 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 have 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 facet, 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 resembling Instagram and X. A kind of got here from Houston-based lawyer Jeff Watters, who known as the vodka soda the “homosexual water” of the nighttime in a submit on X. Its daytime counterpart, he stated, is Eating regimen Coke.

A number of the lore facilities across the notoriously heavy pours from bartenders at homosexual institutions. Watters stated that in a latest Satisfaction Month occasion hosted at a sometimes “straight” venue, a pal remarked that Watters’ vodka soda is likely to be stronger at an LGBTQ+ bar.

The membership soda within the drink, Hilderbrand stated, is a successor to tonic water, which was common in these institutions earlier than 2000. Extra broadly, he stated, 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 alternative for the group, Hilderbrand stated. This may be tied partially to decadeslong efforts by vodka producers to market on to LGBTQ+ shoppers, he stated.

Her group was conscious of the homosexual water moniker once they named the drink, however there was an advocacy angle in addition they felt was essential. When Holt takes Homosexual Ice Water kegs to exterior occasions, she stated, its title requires Kansans to acknowledge queer individuals at a time when LGBTQ+ rights have more and more develop into a political soccer.

In different phrases, Holt stated, individuals must “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 stated.

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

Einstein stated 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 mates without delay. He stated 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 would 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 individuals need,” the 34-year-old monetary analyst stated. “It sounds so fundamental, but it surely’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 Surprise, the manufacturing firm behind competitors present “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” launched a “vodka soda citrus” canned cocktail earlier this 12 months. It was one among a number of launched in tandem with the sixteenth season of the Emmy Award-winning actuality program, wherein drag queens compete in opposition to one another.

“Folks name it the homosexual Tremendous Bowl,” stated Tom Campbell, head of growth for World of Surprise and govt 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 group builds a retail presence in communities with homosexual bars already internet hosting most of these occasions, in response to Campbell.

However there’s alternative past simply geographic places with bustling homosexual life, he stated. The rising prevalence of drag brunches in communities that have not sometimes 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 stated.

Campbell stated non-LGBTQ+ shoppers usually observe the group’s tendencies, whether or not they understand it or not. This will imply a model or drink that is presently most well-liked by this group can garner a wider attraction down the highway.

“Queer tradition is popular culture, and popular culture is queer tradition,” he stated. “Our present is type 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 title might not ring a bell for these outdoors the LGBTQ+ group, he stated it is very important “create conversations” in aisles by means of an unabashedly queer model.

“As a group, an enormous subject has all the time been illustration in media,” Hoddeson stated. “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 Complete Wine & Extra and BevMo. Homosexual Water will also be delivered inside the New York Metropolis space by means of Gopuff or shipped to most states.

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

However he stated 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 stated he is hopeful customers will go for objects which have socially minded missions behind them. For Homosexual Water, he stated, that presently 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 centered on the LGBTQ+ group which might be 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 an alternative of paying $12 at a crowded bar, gentle up this candle to reminisce within the scent of the best drink ever created.”