Faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not drink alcohol, but that wasn't always the case. In its early decades, they not only consumed it but also manufactured it. A look at the church's southern Utah wine mission.
, just north of St. George, said the possibilities also intrigued his great-great-grandfather, Hugh Moon, upon his arrival in southwestern Utah in December 1861.
Miners, Lancaster added, acquired a taste for sweet Dixie red wine, one saying “it had a kick worse than a government mule.” Latter-day Saints took a shine to the wine as well. Lancaster quotes Frank Hafen’s drink-by-drink account of its effects. As the wine’s profitability and palatability became evident, the acreage devoted to it shot up. By 1866, a third of Toquerville’s acreage was devoted to orchards and vineyards, according to Hansen Park. While no exact figures for industry are available, Lancaster wrote that, by 1870, there were about a half-dozen outfits in St. George alone producing up to 2,500 gallons annually.
Wine also flowed freely on major holidays, including Christmas, Independence Day and Pioneer Day. Same goes for dances, weddings and other celebrations — something that often led to “rowdyism” and other unseemly behavior. Alcohol abuse became so prevalent in southern Utah that Young counseled Saints in 1873 to be “temperate and wise in the use of intoxicating drinks.” Despite imbibing himself on occasion, the church leader, Lancaster wrote, believed wine should be reserved for export and “not drunk by the Saints except in taking the sacrament.”
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