Mormons, Merlot & The Utah Liquor Monopoly

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a wine broker?

Now, how about a wine broker in the land of archaic liquor laws and an overbearing religion that shuns alcohol, like UTAH?

Here..., hold my beer.

Oops, I mean wine.

A job selling wine, a product many consider a hobby or a curiosity, can be one of the most stimulating, rewarding, and intriguing careers in the world. Jobs in the wine industry are highly sought because, at the core level, one is decently compensated for, in its simplest description - drinking.

Now, if the job entails selling wine in Utah, that makes the job somewhat harder and often ludicrous. As a control state, the local government is tasked with the sale and distribution of all alcoholic beverages over 5% alcohol by volume. Because the state operates a monopoly without competition, they have implemented and erected barriers by limiting products they only want to sell at prices dictated by expensive set state taxes. And, as if selling alcohol in a monopoly isn't hard enough, the state legislature is predominately comprised of lawmakers belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since Mormons disdain alcohol, they control it in a way that only makes sense to them by enacting absurd laws.

While there will be stories about selling wine and winemakers, I'll also include herein the realities of the LDS religion and its relation to controlling alcohol, ridiculous liquor laws, my job and the company I worked for, and eventually how it all went wrong.