# 5 Vodka

Gay guys sure do love vodka. At some point in the last 10 years, vodka surpassed whiskey as the most consumed hard liquor in America. At the same time, gay guys have gone from casual appearances on Melrose Place to two cable networks and Jimmy Kimmel pretending to date Ben Affleck. Coincidence? Doubtful.

There are two reasons gay guys like vodka: it mixes well with everything, and it has an aura of sophistication lacking in, for example, rum. 

Vodka mixes well with everything basically because it tastes like nothing. And gay guys always like a new idea, so one year they’ll mix vodka with orange and cranberry juice, then move on to Apple martinis, then cosmopolitans, then lychee martinis. . .the list goes on and on. If vodka’s only attraction were its susceptibility to fad cocktails, that alone would ensure its high esteem among gay guys.

But wait, there’s more. Unlike, say, rum or bourbon, vodka has been marketed as an upmarket and sophisticated beverage ever since Absolut vodka asked Keith Haring ( as well as some other artists that gay guys care less about) to design ads with Absolut vodka bottles in them. Absolut was also one of the first companies to advertise specifically to gays, and gay guys are nothing if not loyal. (At least until a newer, more expensive brand of vodka comes out.)

So there you have it. Vodka combines the two enviable characteristics of being sophisticated and tasteless. And there is nothing more attractive to gay guys than that.