Wine

Dr. Welch's Unfermented Wine

American physician and dentist, Thomas Bramwell Welch in 1869,

developed the method of pasteurizing grape juice to halt the fermentation.

A Methodist steward and a strong supporter of the temperance movement,

produced a non-alcoholic wine to be used for church services

in his hometown of Vineland, New Jersey.

His fellow parishioners continued to prefer and use regular wine.

His son Charles E. Welch, also a dentist, eventually gave up his practice

to promote grape juice.

In 1893 he founded Welch's Grape Juice Company at Westfield, Chautauqua Co. NY.

As the temperance movement grew, so did the popularity of grape juice.

Throughout the first 1,800 years of church history,

Christians always used wine (that is, fermented grape juice) in the Lord's Supper.

In the mid 1800s, some Protestant Christians moved from this historic position

to prohibiting all ordinary consumption of alcohol.

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