(Newser)
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There are four too many wives in the name of Five Wives vodka, according to the board that controls liquor sales in Idaho. State regulators say the vodka—which has a label featuring five women from an 1890s vaudeville act hiking up their skirts—is offensive both to women and to Mormons, who make up more than a quarter of the state's population, reports the Los Angeles Times. The brand won't be offered in stores run by the state liquor monopoly and bar owners have been banned from ordering it.
The vodka is made by Ogden's Own distillery in Utah, where state regulators have allowed it to go on sale. The ban is absurd and unfair, says an exec at Ogden's, who notes that a Utah beer named Polygamy Porter is sold in Idaho. Liquor board officials counter that Idaho doesn't control what brands of beer go on sale, adding that a glut of new liquor products also contributed to the board's nixing of Five Wives. The distillery is making the most of the ban with a media campaign and sale of "Free the Five Wives" T-shirts, notes the AP.
