Do Freemasons Drink Alcohol?

A candidate once asked me, quite seriously, whether he would be handed a chalice of wine during his initiation and expected to drink from it as part of an oath. He had watched a film. The answer disappointed him, because it was simply no, and the actual practice of drinking in Freemasonry turns out to be far more mundane and far more varied by jurisdiction than any film has ever suggested.

There is no single answer to whether Freemasons drink, because Freemasonry is not one organisation with one custom. It is a family of independent Grand Lodges around the world, and their traditions around alcohol range from the formal toasting customs of English lodges to jurisdictions in parts of the United States where alcohol is banned on lodge premises entirely.

§The festive board and the ritual toasts

In much of the English speaking world outside America, lodge meetings are traditionally followed by a formal meal known as the festive board. It includes a sequence of toasts, to the Sovereign or Head of State, to absent brethren, to visitors and to the Master, delivered in a set order that has barely changed in generations. Wine or port is usually poured for these toasts, though water is always an acceptable substitute and no one comments on it.

This is a social custom, not a ritual requirement, and it takes place after the lodge has been formally closed, never during degree work itself. The Wikipedia entry on Masonic ritual and symbolism gives useful background on the distinction between the lodge room proceedings and the social meal that follows.

§Dry lodges, particularly in America

Many Grand Lodges in the United States prohibit alcohol on lodge property outright, a position that in some jurisdictions dates back to state era temperance rules and in others reflects a straightforward decision by the Grand Lodge to keep lodge buildings alcohol free. If your only exposure to Masonic culture has come from British television or film, this often comes as a genuine surprise.

• Some US Grand Lodges ban alcohol on lodge premises entirely
• English and many Commonwealth lodges hold a festive board with wine after the meeting closes
• European lodges vary widely, often following national dining customs
• Individual lodges within the same jurisdiction can differ if they meet at a private venue rather than a temple

It is also worth knowing that the temperance history behind some American dry lodges was often a deliberate civic stance taken during the era of Prohibition and the wider temperance movement, and many Grand Lodges simply never reversed the policy once it was set. It has nothing to do with ritual requirements and everything to do with local institutional history, which is part of why the picture looks so different from state to state and country to country.

§Nobody is pressured to drink

Even at lodges with a full festive board tradition, nobody polices your glass. Toasts are typically made with whatever is in front of you, and a soft drink or water works exactly as well as wine for the purpose. I have sat beside teetotal brethren for two decades and never once seen it raised as an issue, because the toast is a gesture of respect, not a test of capacity.

The glass in your hand at a toast matters far less than whether you stand and mean it.

§Being a non-drinker in lodge

Recovering alcoholics, teetotallers by choice, and members whose religion prohibits alcohol are all a normal and unremarkable presence in lodge life. Good lodges make this easy, stocking soft drinks as a matter of course and never singling anyone out. If you are considering a lodge and worried specifically about this, it belongs on your list of questions during your first visit, alongside the practical matters covered in Your First Visit to a Lodge.

The one place drinking culture can become a genuine problem is a lodge, like any social club, where a small group has let the after-dinner drinks run long and loud. That is a lodge culture issue rather than a Masonic one, and it is exactly the kind of thing worth noticing on your first visit before you commit. The lodge scorecard tool is built partly for this, letting you compare the tone of two or three lodges rather than assuming they are all the same.

§The bottom line

Alcohol plays a real but entirely optional role in the social side of many lodges, particularly in English speaking traditions outside America, and no role at all in the actual ritual of the degrees. In a growing number of American jurisdictions it plays no role at all, full stop. Whichever kind of lodge you end up in, drinking or not drinking will not decide whether you are welcome. What decides that is covered in Six Myths About Freemasonry, and it has nothing to do with what is in your glass.

If lodge culture and etiquette questions like this one are on your mind, the Freemasonry Glossary explains the festive board, the toasts and dozens of other terms you will hear before anyone explains them to you.