Idaho calls ’Five Wives Vodka’ offensive to church

SALT LAKE CITY — Idaho liquor regulators say a Utah liquor named “Five Wives Vodka” is in bad taste and they won’t stock bottles or take special orders at state-owned stores.
The middle-shelf vodka is from a distillery in Utah, where the Mormon church is based. The label shows five women tucking up their skirts.
Idaho regulators told a distributor for Ogden’s Own Distillery that the brand’s concept is offensive to a large part of the state’s residents. State Liquor Division administrator Jeff Anderson says the brand is offensive to Mormons who make up over a quarter …

SALT LAKE CITY — Idaho liquor regulators say a Utah liquor named “Five Wives Vodka” is in bad taste and they won’t stock bottles or take special orders at state-owned stores.

The middle-shelf vodka is from a distillery in Utah, where the Mormon church is based. The label shows five women tucking up their skirts.

Idaho regulators told a distributor for Ogden’s Own Distillery that the brand’s concept is offensive to a large part of the state’s residents. State Liquor Division administrator Jeff Anderson says the brand is offensive to Mormons who make up over a quarter of Idaho’s population.

All liquor in Idaho has to be purchased in stores run by the state. Anderson says they carry hundreds of vodka brands and “Fives Wives” is nothing special.

The Huffington Post reported that Steve Conlin, partner and vice president of marketing at Ogden’s Own Distillery, the producer of Five Wives Vodka, found the Liquor Division decision to be “extremely misguided” if based on religious concerns.

“We can only presume he means Mormons,” Conlin says in a press release emailed to The Huffington Post, “Though that makes little sense as they allow Polygamy Porter from Wasatch Beers of Utah to be sold. We’re a little dumbfounded by it all.”