Launching Thursday is a brightly colored canned vodka and soda beverage that proudly displays who its for, instead of backing off from support for the LGBTQ+ community as other companies have done in recent months. In other words, where Bud Light has buckled under pressure as bigotry grows against the LGBTQ+ community, Gay Waters creator Spencer Hoddeson wants his new boozy brand to be the antithesis of that.
The key issue that Bud Light tapped into was the fact that they didnt understand their core audience and know enough about them, Hoddeson, a gay man, told CNN about the controversy that began when the Anheuser-Busch beer brand sent influencer Dylan Mulvaney a can of beer. They just went silent and I think in 2023, you have to be communicating because people communicate themselves if theyre not hearing from you.
Sales of premixed cocktails including surged about 36% last year, making it a $2.2 billion industry according to figures from Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
Gay Water might not have the deep pockets compared to its competitors, like White Claw, but even at small scale, companies of many sizes are having success making spirit-based seltzers and premixed cocktails, Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and editor of the alcohol beverage newsletter, Sightlines+, told CNN.
Theres lots of space in the spirit-based seltzer category in which Gay Water can play, especially if the brand can offer a cultural or emotional connection that will feel more exciting than the prospect of another pineapple-flavored vodka seltzer from national or international corporations, Roth said. Its a top-heavy category where niches can be carved out in similar fashion to craft beer.