12 Queer-Owned Alcoholic Beverage Brands Worth Knowing

June is Pride Month, which is a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and the myriad ways it has positively affected culture — from the queer chefs who head restaurants across America to the queer business owners who curate spaces in bars and restaurants that provide safety for members of the community. There are many queer-owned businesses, including wineries, to support this Pride Month, and that's especially true in the alcohol space.

Since the alcohol industry is saturated with various canned cocktails, tequilas, vodkas, and wines from countless brands, celebrities, and distributors, queer-owned brands can tend to take a backseat and not get the spotlight they deserve. Still, there are many alcohol brands owned and/or founded by members of the LGBTQ+ community that boast quality products that are worth taking a closer look at. From wine to gin and even moonshine, these queer-owned alcohol brands are worth supporting during Pride Month and beyond.

Reyalibre, in addition to being queer-owned, is also a Black-owned and woman-owned tequila brand launched in Atlanta in 2025. The couple who founded it, Erica Jones and Asiaa Karriem, aimed to create a tequila that was authentic to their own experience. This even includes the name itself. In Spanish, "reya" means real or true, and "libre" means free; the tequila's name, then, represents the freedom to enjoy the tequila how you like it, in a way that feels true to you — whether that means in a cocktail, on the rocks, or neat. The double entendre also works to represent a plight the queer community has fought over many years — the freedom to be your real, true self.

Reyalibre has become an award-winning tequila, earning the Silver Medal at the 2025 Bartender Spirits Award and three different medals at the Latin America World Spirits Competition, the latter of which awarded the brand's añejo, cristalino reposado, and blanco variations gold, silver, and bronze medal, respectively. The blanco tequila is said to have earthy tasting notes that release into a sweeter flavor, rounding off with smoothness, which was important to Jones and Karriem, who did not want the tequila to burn as it went down. To avoid this burn, the brand aerates the tequila to highlight the agave flavors. Every bottle of Reyalibre sports a pride flag on the back, representing Jones and Karriem's commitment to supporting their community, one bottle at a time.

Anytime Spritz is an organic gin and vodka brand that promotes regenerative agriculture, which means encouraging soil health, minimizing the use of chemicals and pesticides, and promotes a vibrant and healthy agricultural ecosystem. Regenerative agriculture is common for growing food, but few alcohol brands have made the shift to growing sustainable ingredients for their spirits. For Anytime, it means creating a quality spirit without damaging the land the ingredients come from.

Anytime, owned by best friends Maddy Rotman and Taylor Lanzet, has a goal of moving the alcohol industry toward regenerative organic agriculture. It partners with a farm in upstate New York to grow wheat in a way that simultaneously improves the farm's ecosystem. In a time where many people are focused on reversing the effects of climate change, Anytime has brought that focus into practice. Its gin is dry with hints of thyme, juniper, and basil and is crafted to work well in an array of cocktails, from martinis to Negronis. Meanwhile, the vodka is earthy and distilled through a copper hybrid pot still, which allows for better control of flavor and aromatics, making it a great spirit to drink neat if that's your preference.

The brand also sells canned spritzes with flavors that complement the earth tones of its spirits. The Herby Lime Fizz is refreshing with Key lime, thyme, sage, juniper, mint, and dill, while the Yuzu Ginger Punch is as punchy as the name sounds, with yuzu, lemon, and a bit of salt to bring out the citrusy flavors. Then there's the Cranberry Amaro Splash, which utilizes real cranberries and real Key limes. Anytime Spritz is a versatile brand with an alcohol product to fix any craving you may have.

Remy Wines is an eponymous brand named after Remy Drabkin, winemaker and mayor of McMinnville, Oregon, where she grew up. Drabkin has always loved winemaking, having been introduced to the craft of harvesting at just age 14 and completing three harvests just three years later when she was 17. Remy Wines was born in 2006, a recognizable feat, since Drabkin was one of the few queer winemakers paving the way in Oregon.

Having dedicated more than a decade to public service either via her mayoral duties or her business, Drabkin cofounded Wine Country Pride in 2020, a nonprofit that curates celebrations of the queer community. She also hosted the first Queer Wine Fest in 2022 to build community for LGBTQ+ people in Oregon.

Remy Wines has a variety of wines suitable for any palate, including Old World-style offerings like the Black + Gold collection, which includes sparkling wines, Bordeaux, Tuscan-inspired blends, and pinot noir. The brand's 2022 Vintage Brut Sparkling Black Heart, for example, is a blanc de noir wine that boasts pear, apple, and lemon notes with the sweetness of honeysuckle on the back end. It's crisp and fruity, reminiscent of an orchard. The 2022 Gold Star is a Tuscan wine that starts with a sweet caramel note but leads into more earthy flavors, like pepper, pine, and cedar. In addition to selling wine, Remy Wines offers a vineyard and tasting room in the Dundee Hills, Oregon.

Spencer Hoddeson founded Gay Water, a line of canned vodka sodas. The cans come in relatively traditional flavors like watermelon, lime, grapefruit, and peach. Each can is only 80 calories, has zero sugar and no gluten, and contains only three ingredients.

The name is appropriate, given that, colloquially, vodka sodas have long been called "gay water," a touchpoint that indicates the history of the drink among the LGBTQ+ community, and specifically among gay men. Brands like Gay Water have capitalized on this colloquialism; Gay Water aims to take the word "gay" and make it more mainstream, encouraging celebration of queerness beyond just Pride Month.

Gay Water was named the best ready-to-drink cocktail at the Bevnet Spirits Awards in 2023. Bevnet praised the brand on the ways in which it leans into authenticity — from the colorful packaging to the cheeky social media captions the brand posts online. The award-winning brand was one of the first to be founded by a member of the LGBTQ+ community and remain rooted in supporting that group.

Gay Beer is owned by same-sex couple Jon Moore and Jason Pazmino. The pair founded Gay Beer in response to the stereotype that queer people and women do not or cannot drink beer. In December 2018, Gay Beer was born and marketed to that very group of people — women and the LGBTQ+ community. Though filling a gap with their product, Moore and Pazmino also want Gay Beer to be for everyone.

The beverage is made in upstate New York and crafted to reduce gluten; it is brewed with Vienna malt, which give it a slight sweet, honey taste, and Mandarina Bavaria hops, which gives it some fruity, citrusy notes. Its light golden lager is refreshing and can be sipped all day.

Founders Aaron Thorp — a sommelier and beverage expert — and Tom Jackson — a professional in the advertising and design space — came together to found Supergay Spirits, a queer-owned and operated spirits brand with the goal of making the craft spirits industry more joyful. A portion of the brand's profits is also donated to LGBTQ+ organizations. The brand's products use organic grains, unique botanicals, filtered water from the Catskill Mountains, and 100% organic, non-GMO corn to craft the brand's vodka. Supergay works in small batches, distilling the vodka in a way that highlights the sweetness of the corn to create a vodka that can be sipped neat or used in cocktails, like a screwdriver.

Its vodka has been praised as being one of the best for a dirty martini, and won the Gold Sip Award in 2023. Aside from vodka, Supergay Spirits also produces a Fire Island Gin, infused with wild kelp from Fire Island, New York, and canned cocktails branded as Two Fruits Cocktails. The first is a Cosmopolitan cocktail made with Supergay vodka, nectarine liqueur, cranberry, and lime, and the second is a ginger mule, also made with the brand's vodka, which has been steeped in fresh ginger and mixed with Supergay's ginger liqueur, lime, and soda water.

In 2020, Tom Macy and Julie Reiner cofounded Social Hour Cocktails in New York City. Macy — an award-winning bartender and beverage director — and Reiner — a former judge of Netflix's "Drink Masters" as well as a James Beard nominee — brought their expertise together to curate a brand that brings forth only the highest-quality cocktails, even in canned form. Social Hour Cocktails are made in New York with New York spirits, and they have a range of flavors, from classics like mango passionfruit margarita and whiskey mule to more unique flavors like the cucumber matcha mojito, yuzu sunset fizz, seasonal cherry blossom Cosmo, and even a pink peppercorn Paloma.

Reiner and Macy are used to curating an iconic drinking experience, due to Reiner's former work with NYC's Flatiron Lounge and the work both founders have done for the Clover Club. The ready-to-drink cocktails are the product of this fine-drinking experience, meant to highlight high-quality ingredients and premium spirits so you can elevate your at-home drinking experience.

Saint Luna Moonshine made headlines when its partner and chief brand development officer, Aubrey Slater, was named one of Wine Enthusiast's Future 40 Tastemakers and Innovators in 2022. Slater, who is transgender, has been a co-owner of the brand since 2021. The brand was founded in 2019 by David Suk, who hoped Saint Luna would do well by moonshine, since it was one of the first-ever American spirits. Suk himself identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and believes his resilience as a business owner is owed to his need to be resilient as a gay person in the world. 

Saint Luna Moonshine is a spirit with hints of rye and molasses and is charcoal-filtered to leave behind a smooth mouthfeel. Suk's resilience has helped the brand become award-winning, winning the gold medal at the 2019 San Diego International Wine & Spirits Challenge, as well as recognition from multiple publications.

Saint Luna also curates cocktail recipes on its website using the moonshine. Take, for example, the Hot as Hades cocktail, which includes chili liquor and hot chocolate for a warm cocktail with a sweet punch, or the Honey Pumpkin Smash, with honey pumpkin syrup, lemon, mint, and Ango aromatics.

Future Gin was founded by four friends: Amy Atwood, Mary Bartlett, Freya Estreller, and Natasha Case. The friend group loves California, and in Future Gin lies the remnants of that love. Its dry gin boasts flavors of Meyer lemon (which is not the same as a regular lemon), honeysuckle, and grape leaf, in addition to the traditional botanicals that produce gin, which are historically juniper, coriander, and angelica. The conventional elements mixed with the founders' own twist on gin make for a gin that works in all your classic cocktails, like dirty martinis and gin and tonics.

Future Gin is gluten-free, vegan, and contains no added sugar, artificial colors, or flavors and has been widely regarded by many spirit outlets. The woman- and queer-founded brand combines each founder's experiences in the food, wine, and spirits industry, which add up to more than 50 years of expertise. The brand also aims to contribute to a brighter future, so it donates 10% of its profits to social justice initiatives.

Self-described as "inclusive but opinionated," Republic Restoratives is a women- and queer-owned alcohol brand making its mark on the industry by curating spirits and bottles that act as political statements. The brand's Dissent Gin, for example, was inspired by Ruth Bader Ginsburg's love for the famous Jewish deli Russ & Daughters. Dissent Gin brings together trailblazing flavors in Ginsburg's honor, combining pepper, allspice, and ginger (among others) with mandarin orange and hickory smoke.

Republic Restoratives, owned by Pia Carusone, also paid tribute to the United States' first female BIPOC vice president, Kamala Harris, with its Madam Whiskey. The bottle, which was designed in collaboration with a local artist, is a seven-year-old bourbon and five-year-old rye, which the brand calls "a more perfect union" — a callback to the Constitution's preamble.

The crowdfunded brand has been around since 2015 and has always made bottles that serve as a form of creative resistance. The brand's Civic Pride vodka features a pride flag on the label, and a portion of its proceeds go toward supporting Advocates for Trans Equality. Republic Restoratives' bourbon, rye, and brandy have earned medals at the American Draft Spirits Association Awards.

Josue Montes, culture and design editor at Made in Kansas City, launched tequila brand Apuesto in 2023. The word "apuesto" translates to "dapper" in Spanish, which is on brand for Montes, whose Instagram handle was @1dapperlatino when the brand launched in  partnership with Codigo 1530, a Mexican tequila distillery.

Apuesto is a barrel rosa reposado, aged in Napa Valley cabernet French oak barrels. It's a lowland tequila, meaning it has an earthy flavor that has been described as herbal and floral. The spirit also has no additives, sugars, flavors, or colors.

Montes is connected to his product both on a branding level and on a personal level, as he aims to use Apuesto as a means of supporting both Latino and queer communities. Apuesto's launch was six years in the making, and he has found pride in launching Apuesto in the same way he finds pride in both the Latino and queer communities.

So Gay Rosé is a representation of what can happen when the LGBTQ+ community is supported by the people around them. Co-founder Tim Chan, a gay entrepreneur, teamed up with his friend Josh Campbell, a straight ally for the queer community, to create a rosé that took back a power Chan felt was lost to him in his younger years. For people growing up in the '80s, '90s, and even the early aughts, being called "so gay" was historically considered an insult, and Chan's experience was no different. By creating So Gay Rosé, Chan and Campbell aim to combat the negativity of being called "so gay."

So Gay Rosé offers both chardonnay and rosé. Besides a traditional rosé, it also offers a Fire Island–branded edition, made in partnership with Hulu's 2022 film of the same name. The brand's chardonnay is light with notes of pear, lemon, and peaches, where the rosé is crisp with tart hints of grapefruit and berries. The brand donates a portion of its proceeds to The Trevor Project.