The Idaho State Liquor Division seems to think it is in the business of protecting the delicate sensibilities of Mormon residents of that state. It has blocked sales of Five Wives Vodka, made by a Utah company called Ogden’s Own Distillery, on the grounds that Mormons might find the name insulting. The company has hired Jonathan Turley to bring a legal challenge and Turley has written a letter to the state threatening a suit:
Throughout this process, Ogden’s Own has tried to discuss and resolve any problems or concerns with your agency. They applied for entry into the Idaho market in good faith as they have done in other states. Idaho is the only state to raise religious and social sensibilities as a basis to deny entry to this product. To make matters worse, the agency proceeded to engage in public attacks on the company and its products. Mr. Wasserstein opted to inform third parties that the product was an insult to Mormons and later pledged that it would never be sold in the State of Idaho. He then expanded these attacks with criticism of the picture on the bottle, suggesting a bizarre misogynist hidden message. When public criticism grew over the use of religious sensibilities as a criterion for blocking the sale of a product, both Mr. Wasserstein and yourself proceeded to attack the quality of the vodka—disparaging both the product and the producers at this small distillery. Just last Friday, you were quoted attacking the product as “low class” and not “something we want to have on our shelf, sitting next to Absolut vodka.”
My clients would be the last to disagree with your praise and high regard for Absolut vodka. They have never disparaged other products. Just as the distillers in Sweden are rightfully proud of Absolut, the distillers of Ogden’s Own are equally proud of their product. While they are tiny in comparison to the Swedish company, these American distillers resent your suggestion that they should not be seen on the same shelf with Absolut. I am, frankly, astonished by the vitriol and venom directed at this small company because it had the temerity to ask to enter the Idaho market and then objected to being blocked by religious sensibilities.
There is no reason for Ogden’s Own to respond tit-for-tat to these public attacks by you and Mr. Wasserstein. Unlike your vodka of choice, your power is not absolute. We have a court system designed to protect citizens and companies from arbitrary and abusive governmental actions. It is clear from the continuing attacks from your office that nothing short of a lawsuit will compel your agency to reconsider its decision as well as its underlying policy.
I can’t imagine there’s any way the state of Idaho can win such a case. I hope they drop it. If Mormons are offended by the title, they shouldn’t be drinking vodka anyway.
58 comments
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holytape
June 11, 2012 at 10:39 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So is my idea for “Prophet-Approved Bacon” out then too?
Stevarious
June 11, 2012 at 10:46 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
What, seriously?
I thought Mormons weren’t even supposed to have alcohol. What’s next, banning “Heavenly Ham” brand bacon in Deerborn because the name is offensive to Muslims?
Stevarious
June 11, 2012 at 10:47 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Bah, he beat me to the Muslims-hate-bacon joke. Curses!
ambulocetacean
June 11, 2012 at 10:51 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
But… but … but… the Free Market!!?!?!?
I take it that this mysterious Mr Wasserstein is Howard Wasserstein, deputy director for procurement, distribution and retail operations for the Idaho State Liquor Division.
d cwilson
June 11, 2012 at 10:51 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Wow. It’s not like they called it the Suckers Who Believe a Convicted Horse Thief Could Read Gold Tablets in a Hat Vodka.
eric
June 11, 2012 at 10:51 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Idaho seems to have no problem with He’Brew (the Chosen Beer!). I count ten distributors in Idaho.
So, not only a stupid argument, but a stupid argument applied exceptionally to only one religion, too.
truthdat
June 11, 2012 at 11:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is just another attempt by Ed Brayton to insult Christians. This time he goes after Mormons. Come on, why do people think that Ed is smart?
dingojack
June 11, 2012 at 11:03 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m guessing that the South Australian ‘Three-legged Dog’ wine isn’t going to sold in Idaho either, wouldn’t want to offend Muslims now would we?
Dingo
—–
ps: Or any kind of animal-based, animal-tested or animal product (Leather, milk, honey, eggs, hamburgers, steaks, cosmetics & etc.) for fear of insulting Buddhists. @@
pps: I suppose they’ll be closing every Starbucks and diner in the state too, trembling in the shadow of the wrath of the magic underpants brigade!
joshuaz
June 11, 2012 at 11:08 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
They might win this. The wording of the repeal of prohibition gives states very wide leeway about how they regulate alcohol.
Zinc Avenger
June 11, 2012 at 11:08 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Strange, truthdat @7 is barely registering on my troll-o-meter but also not reading on my irony meter. Can anyone confirm this with independent readings? It’s either a particularly weak troll or it needs to be made irony tag 3.0 compliant.
dave
June 11, 2012 at 11:10 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
1 — Idaho has already reversed itself.
2 — There are weird laws over the marketing of alcohol, and liquor control boards are often given a fair bit of discretion. (Im not saying this is how it should be, but how it is.) See for example Bad Frog Beer, banned in PA by John E. Jones of Dover fame, when he was in charge of the PA Liquor Control Board. (Its also banned in 7 other states.)
3 — Schmaltz Brewing Company was founded by and is owned by a Jew (Jeremy Cowan). For some, that may be a differentiation between He’Brew and Five Wives. (I know several Jews who see He’Brew as a celebration of Jewishness, not a ridicule of it. Personally, I see it as a passable beer with a good marketing gimick.)
truthdat
June 11, 2012 at 11:12 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sounds like Zinc Avenger has some personal issues to work out.
raven
June 11, 2012 at 11:16 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You don’t have to be smart to insult Mormonism. It’s one of the more laughably fake, kooky, and malevolent religions. An ugly mind control cult.
But you can be. Being intelligent is orthogonal to laughing at religion.
Truthdat, make sure you have your magic underwear on, pay your 10% tithe that goes Cthulhu knows where, pay close attention to every word from the geriatric Prophet in the Vatican (SLC), and watch out for the demons, satan and normal people (gentiles).
truthdat
June 11, 2012 at 11:18 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Raven? Now is that what your boyfriend calls you for fun? LOL I never said I was mormon genius
raven
June 11, 2012 at 11:19 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Why bother. Truthdat is either dumb or 10 years old.
cactusren
June 11, 2012 at 11:20 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I suppose the Wasatch Brew Pub shouldn’t try selling it’s Polygamy Porter in Idaho, then. To be fair, it’s a small brewery, and I’ve never seen it outside of Utah anyway. But I guess northward expansion isn’t the best idea for them.
truthdat
June 11, 2012 at 11:21 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Raven you are an unhappy parasite who hares God because he made you with A sense of humor. LOL People like you will always be pissed off.
truthdat
June 11, 2012 at 11:22 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
*hate
raven
June 11, 2012 at 11:22 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You are clearly not very bright and at least you know that.
You can always join the Mormons. They recruit relentlessly and pick off the desperate, uneducated, and not very intelligent ones. You will fit right in.
Go for it. If you follow the rules you eventually get to be a god with your own planet and a fleet of wives to populate it.
raven
June 11, 2012 at 11:25 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Actually we atheists get along really well with the gods. It couldn’t be better. They have been so quiet for centuries, you barely even know they are there.
So why do you hate the Easter Bunny, Thor, Zeus, Brahma, elves, fairies, and Bigfoot? They are very disappointed in you.
jonk
June 11, 2012 at 11:28 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@cactusren, I was just about to comment that it’s no surprise then that Polygamy Porter isn’t carried in Idaho. Maybe it’s just the catchy name, but PP is also distributed in WA, OR, NV, AZ, NM, TX, LA, MN and WI.
truthdat
June 11, 2012 at 11:28 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hahaha. You think that God is comparable with the Easter bunny and fairies and other things like that. Tell me what makes God similar to those types of creatures?
truthdat
June 11, 2012 at 11:29 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Raven is obviously clueless.
imrryr
June 11, 2012 at 11:29 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
truthdat’s solution to government overeach and Christians doing dumb things? Stop reporting on it, it’s MEAN!!! Waaaaah!
But hey, at least he thinks Mormons are Christians. Too many rightwingers can’t even do that.
dingojack
June 11, 2012 at 11:29 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Raven – “Truthdat is either dumb or 10 years old”.
That statement would be banned in Idaho for insulting the dumb and/or 10 year olds.
Dingo
—–
Truthdat, tell me about the issues you have with Corvus corax.
imrryr
June 11, 2012 at 11:30 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well, his complete lack of existence for starters…
Larry
June 11, 2012 at 11:31 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
truthdat ejaculated
Here’s a little puzzle for you, truthdat. Locate and circle all the places in Ed’s article that contain the work “christian”. You have 60 seconds.
Doug Little
June 11, 2012 at 11:32 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
dc @5 wins the thread.
Although, I would peg it at:
“Suckers Who Believe a Convicted Horse Thief, Swindler and Adulterer Could Be Trusted When Stating That He Received And Translated Golden Plates Given To Him By An Angel Behind a Rock”
Ed Brayton
June 11, 2012 at 11:34 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
After leaving 10 insulting comments without even an iota of substance to them, truthdat is consigned to the dustbin of history. They really shouldn’t let 14 year olds on the computer.
Modusoperandi
June 11, 2012 at 11:37 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
holytape “So is my idea for ‘Prophet-Approved Bacon’ out then too?”
Right. As though it could compete with my ‘Muhammad’s Choice Bacon’. Next you’re going to try to muscle in on Vaticantraception® (“The only birth control pills with 10% real Eucharist!”.
jamessweet
June 11, 2012 at 11:37 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There’s already a Utah microbrewery that sells a Polygamy Porter, so this is sorta weird. Another commenter reported that Idaho already reversed themselves. Sorta sounds like one overzealous clueless gov’t bureaucrat…
Doug Little
June 11, 2012 at 11:43 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I really hope truthdat isn’t a 14 year old. With the unprecedented access to information that the new generation has it would be a crying shame if they were that misinformed and deluded. I expect more from our youth.
imrryr
June 11, 2012 at 11:43 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@Ed – Aww… you’re like a pet owner who takes a cat’s ball of string away. :(
dingojack
June 11, 2012 at 11:55 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And now we never know what’s behind the corvidae issues!
;) Dingo
syskill
June 11, 2012 at 11:57 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Um, Ed… This story was on Mr. Turley’s blog five days ago. The next day, he posted that the Idaho State Liquor Division lifted the ban and apologized. And just today you get around to posting about the original ban.
It seems to me that this is pretty typical of your blog — almost everything I read here is something I read somewhere else earlier in the week. I suspect that if I were to follow Right Wing Watch, I’d find that to be the case for all of your posts.
I hate to say this, because you’re a smart guy, and I (mostly) agree with you, but you’re a really shitty blogger, and it’s about time somebody came out and told you so.
Marcus Ranum
June 11, 2012 at 11:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Raven you are an unhappy parasite who hares God because he made you with A sense of humor.
That gave me all kinds of rather bizzare mental images that probably aren’t appropriate for sharing with this blog.
dingojack
June 11, 2012 at 12:01 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Corvidae and/i> Leporidae, my my!
Dingo
—–
MR – Good catch.
dingojack
June 11, 2012 at 12:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
syskill – feel free to roam.
Dingo
brocasbrian
June 11, 2012 at 12:08 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Since when do we have the right to not be offended?
Marcus Ranum
June 11, 2012 at 12:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Locate and circle all the places in Ed’s article that contain the work “christian”
Mormons are christians. Oh, sure, to most of the old school christians, they’re just a johnny-come-lately nutter cult, but they identify themselves as believing in the christian mythos, so what else can they be? Admittedly, they’re about as conventionally christian as the nation of islam guys are conventionally muslim, but – one of the problems in asserting a subjective wad of beliefs is that it’s pretty hard to say that any old idiot who comes along and says “ME TOO!” isn’t part of the club. Your asshattery is not my asshattery doesn’t really matter much when it’s all asshattery.
cactusren
June 11, 2012 at 12:10 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@ jonk: Thanks for the info–clearly I haven’t been roaming around the west and drinking beer lately! I should fix that.
Tony... therefore God
June 11, 2012 at 12:11 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Truthdat:
Does the phrase “read for comprehension” mean anything to you?
Looking below, there is absolutely nothing insulting about anything Ed says.
In the interest of maybe/possibly trying to see your point (the probability that you have a point is not much more than the probability that god exists) please let me know how Ed has offended Mormons?
flatlander100
June 11, 2012 at 12:21 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@11, 16, 31 and 25
1. Idaho only partially repealed its ban. It will permit bars in tge state to special order it if they wish. That had been banned too. Turley and the Ogden distillery are discussing whether to continue legal action ot not.
2. Wasatch Brewery’s Polygamy Porter is sold in Idaho. (It seems the state agency that approves beer for sale is not the same one that approves liquor.) But Polygamy Porter has been available in Idaho for some years, with its wonderful slogan on the cartons “Why Have Just One?”
3. To be fair, worth noting the LDS church has not objected to Five Wives, nor to my knowledge has any LDS group or organization. Apparently the head of the state liquor commision ( who is not himself LDS) thought Mormons should be offended, so he decided to be offended for them. How considerate. The firestorm that has descended on him is entirely of his own creation.
Larry
June 11, 2012 at 12:21 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Dagnabit, Ed, we were just getting our fangs nice and sharp.
ManOutOfTime
June 11, 2012 at 12:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
FTB needs a Like or +1 button. So much hilarity on this thread!
dingojack
June 11, 2012 at 12:37 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Flatlander100 – Does the Idaho State Liquor Division have standing to complain on behalf of the LDS?
Dingo
d cwilson
June 11, 2012 at 12:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
When it comes to nonsensical alcohol laws, nobody beats Pennsylvania. It’s illegal here for beer distributors to sell six packs. They can only sell cases. It’s a law that serves no other purpose than to give tavern owners a monopoly on six pack sales.
yoav
June 11, 2012 at 12:51 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Next week’s headline: Idaho state officials charged with taking payoffs from absolute vodka in order to keep competitors out of the state.
holytape
June 11, 2012 at 1:01 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Tell me what makes God similar to those types of creatures?
Both Jesus and the Easter bunny go hippity-hopping down the bunny trail.
flatlander100
June 11, 2012 at 1:03 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Dingo Jack @ 46
Of course it doesn’t. And the commission head has been taking a beating from the state’s press, and from Idaho citizens and from national press, print and online. As he and his commission should. That (and the certainty of a losing court fight) are why they’re retreating. The Ogden distiller has reaped a motherlode of publicity just as the product rolls out in Colorado and Texas, and as of six days ago had already sold 1000 “free the five wives” tee shirts. FSM knows how many they’ ve sold now.
dingojack
June 11, 2012 at 1:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
flatland100 – blowback!
:D Dingo
holytape
June 11, 2012 at 1:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Modusoperandi,
I’ll stay away from your turf if you stay away from my Pontiff brand prophylactics — “The right hat for your little pope.”
dingojack
June 11, 2012 at 1:21 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Holytape – shouldn’t that read:
“The right hat for your little pope*”?
Dingo
—–
* Not intended for use whilst boxing the Jesuit.
Marcus Ranum
June 11, 2012 at 2:25 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
When it comes to nonsensical alcohol laws, nobody beats Pennsylvania. It’s illegal here for beer distributors to sell six packs.
Really!?!? As a pennsylvania/redneckistan resident I thought it was because god doesn’t like sixpacks.
dan4
June 11, 2012 at 2:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ironically, I would think that the “offends Mormon sensibilities” claim would, in and of itself, be offensive to Mormons who disavow polygamy (which I assume, in 2012, is the strong, if not overwhelming majority of them); after all the former offense is based on automatically linking having five wives with that religion (it’s just plainly called Five Wives Vodka, after all, not Mormon Five Wives Vodka).
dingojack
June 11, 2012 at 2:43 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Marcus – perhaps god doesn’t have an Abcruncher(TM) he implusively bought whilst watching late night TV. Hence no six-pack.
;) Dingo
d cwilson
June 11, 2012 at 2:59 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
He only likes them when they’re sold in taverns. Time and place, my fellow Pennsyltuckian.
cynthiamarie
August 17, 2012 at 10:08 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
OMG, if that’s all it takes to offend them, I can’t imagine what they’d do if they saw this: http://youtu.be/PhUO6FZoJJk.