Bud Light's Newest Rival? 'Gay Water' Launches Full-Scale Attack

Anyone hot from this heat wave? Me too. Forget the Bud Light -- let's instead grab an ice cold Gay Water and cool off!

Nope -- it's not shtick. That's where we are in 2023. Gay Water. It's the newest drink and Bud Light's next rival.

“This will probably change our marketing — and maybe even distribution — strategy,” founder and CEO Spencer Hoddeson told The NY Post this week.

“But not in the ways you may think. It will fuel us. We are a brand that is unafraid to fight for our community.”

Gay Water coming after Bud Light

Did I think we'd kick off the back half of 2023 with an absolute culture war between something called Gay Water and Bud Light? Nope. But here we are.

Gay Water -- which sells online for a measly $18.25 for a six-pack -- apparently adopts a moniker the gay community has long given to the simple vodka and soda cocktail. Didn't know that, but that's what CEO Spencer said.

The bad news? The six-packs only come in a single flavor — lime. If you're willing to spend nearly $40 for a 12-pack, though, you can get a mix of watermelon, lime, peach, and grapefruit. Your call.

“Our mission is to de-stigmatize the word ‘gay’ and start to create representation in spaces that traditionally don’t have queer-owned products, let alone products with the word ‘gay’ in their title,” Hoddeson told The Post.

“When was the last time you saw the word gay at a restaurant, bar, liquor store, or grocery store? The word ‘gay’ originally was defined as happy, and we’re hoping to remind folks of that by being present,” he added.

And, of course, being the anti-Bud Light -- but not in the way the right-wing beer, Ultra Right, is. Gay Water wants to support any and all of their partners.

“Their campaign lacked consistency,” Hoddeson said of the Bud Light-Dylan Mulvaney mess, which has cost the company billions.

“If a brand wants to be a part of our community, the marketing plan needs to go beyond just a ‘campaign,’ and include a plan to work with the community all year round."

The 30-year-old CEO also told CNN Business (shocking) that “the key issue” with the Bud Light fiasco “was the fact that they didn’t understand their core audience and know enough about them."

"They just went silent,” he added.