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Jeppson's Malört

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Jeppson's Malört is an American brand of bäsk liqueur, a type of brännvin flavored with anise or wormwood. Malört was introduced in Chicago in the 1930s and was long produced by the Carl Jeppson Company. In 2018, as its last employee was retiring, the brand and company name were sold to CH Distillery of Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.[1][2] Jeppson's Malört is named after Carl Jeppson, a Swedish immigrant who first distilled and popularized the liquor in Chicago. Malört (literally moth herb) is the Swedish word for wormwood,[3] which is the key ingredient in bäsk. Malört is extremely low in thujone, a chemical once prevalent in absinthe and similar drinks.[4]

Jeppson's Malört
A bottle of Jeppson's Malört
TypeLiqueur
ManufacturerCarl Jeppson Company
Introduced1933
Proof (US)70
Websitemalort.com

Known for its extremely bitter taste, Malört has been described as "infamous" and "the worst booze ever".[5][6][7] It can be found in some Chicago-area bars and liquor stores, and is growing in popularity, with sales of Malört shots increasing from 0.4 million in 2007 to 7.9 million in 2022.[8] However, it is rare to find elsewhere in the United States.[3][9][10][11]

History

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Carl Jeppson, a Swedish immigrant to Chicago, invented Malört. He first began to sell it door-to-door as a medicine in the 1920s, so as to avoid the then extant prohibition on alcohol. According to legend, Jeppson preferred the strong taste because years of smoking had dulled his taste-buds.[12] Attorney George Brode purchased the original recipe from Jeppson[9] and created the Jeppson's Malört testimonial that once appeared on every bottle. Patricia Gabelick was hired by Brode as his secretary in 1966, and took over the business after Brode's death in 1999, running it out of her Lakeview apartment.[13]

It was made in Chicago until the mid-1970s, when the Mar-Salle[14] distillery that produced it for the Carl Jeppson Company closed. It was then made in Kentucky briefly, after which it was produced in Florida for many years.[15] In 2018, Jeppson's Malört was acquired by Chicago-based CH Distillery,[13] and in 2019 production was moved back to Chicago.[16] In the early 2020s CH Distillery began distributing Malört more widely in the US.[17]

Reputation

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Further information: Culture of Chicago

While Gabelick acknowledged that the drink is a "niche liquor", selling a comparatively small number of cases annually, it has gained increased relevance among bartenders, bikers, and Chicago's southside community, where Gabelick notes that it has become "a rite of passage". The satirist John Hodgman has also adopted the drink in his stage show, offering shots to his audience.[18] In an interview with Gothamist blog Chicagoist, John Hodgman said Jeppson's Malört "tastes like pencil shavings and heartbreak."[19]

For many years, it was only sold in the Chicago area.[20] In summer 2013, Chicago bar Red Door featured Malört-infused snow cones (it has a summer tradition of serving snow cones doused with alcohol). The liquor is mixed with Benedictine and Angostura orange bitters.[21] West Town's Hoosier Mama Pie Co. used Jeppson's in 2017 for "a meringue-style pie", called the Chicago Sunrise.[1]

In Joe Swanberg's 2013 film Drinking Buddies, drinking a shot of Malört is described as a Chicago tradition for erasing past mistakes.[22] In it, actor Jason Sudeikis' character riffs that Malört is like swallowing a burnt condom filled with gasoline.[22] In a similar vein, Tremaine Atkinson, founder of CH Distillery, was introduced to Malört when he first moved to Chicago, when he compared it to "taking a bite out of a grapefruit and then drinking a shot of gasoline".[13] Malört makes up half of the beer boilermaker called the Chicago Handshake (the other half is an Old Style beer).[23]

In August 2015, the High-Hat Club was voted Best Malört Bar in Chicago and was awarded the Carl Cup, a perpetual trophy that is passed from past to current champions in a manner similar to the Stanley Cup.[24] In 2024, a brewpub in Lombard, Illinois offered cicada infused Malört shots (similar to the proverbial mezcal worm in tequila) with the prominent Chicago area 17-year-periodical insect.[25]

While Malört is sometimes mistaken for the common name of the style of liquor, the word is the trademarked brand name owned by Carl Jeppson Company.[26] The company secured the trademark on November 3, 2015.[27] Other distillers that produced a similar spirit renamed theirs beforehand. Letherbee reverted to the generic "Bësk", while FEW Spirits dubbed theirs "Anguish and Regret".[28]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Selvam, Ashok (October 5, 2018). "Jeppson's Malört, Chicago's Infamous Bitter Liquor, Has Been Sold". Eater.com. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  2. ^ "Malört. The Chicago Favorite That May Just Be the Worst Drink in the World". Drizly. May 21, 2014. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Peters, Mark (November 20, 2012). "In Chicago, a Spirit Rises Despite Bitter Reviews". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
  4. ^ "19 Things You Didn't Know About Jeppson's Malört". Thrillist. March 17, 2014. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  5. ^ Wolinsky, David (November 11, 2008). "Taste Test: Jeppson's Malört". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  6. ^ Gentile, Jay (May 14, 2015). "We Made 3 Chicago Sommeliers Do a Malort Tasting". Thrillist. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  7. ^ Gray, Kevin J. (February 12, 2016). "Malort Is the Worst Booze Ever – And You Need to Try It". Paste. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  8. ^ Cardona-Maguigad, Adriana (July 8, 2023). "How Jeppson's Malort became Chicago's drink". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  9. ^ a b McEwen, Melissa (May 10, 2013). "How Swedish Malort Became Chicago's Mascot Bitter Drink". NPR.org. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  10. ^ Wilmes, John (March 2, 2018). "Why This Off-Putting Chicago Novelty Liquor Is So Damn Special". Food & Wine. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  11. ^ Kurzius, Rachel (January 22, 2019). "It Might Taste Like Turpentine, But The Malört Shortage Has Some Washingtonians Bereft". DCist. Washington, D.C.: American University Radio. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  12. ^ Garcia, Evan (July 3, 2019). "Like 'Biting into a Band-Aid': Malort Returns to Chicago". WTTW. Archived from the original on July 4, 2019. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  13. ^ a b c Trotter, Greg (October 5, 2018). "Pilsen Distillery Acquires Malort, Aims to Bring Production of the Bitter Liquor Back to Chicago". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on October 5, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  14. ^ "MAR-SALLE CHICAGO CO". Trademarks. Justia. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  15. ^ Brown, Mark (May 6, 2007). "What Drink Asks 'Are You Man Enough?'". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  16. ^ Chu, Louisa (February 22, 2019). "After 30 Years, Malort Is Home. Production of the Bitter Liqueur Returned to Chicago in October 2018 after being acquired by CH Distillery". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 23, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  17. ^ Cardona-Maguigad, Adriana (July 8, 2023). "Malört's Unlikely Rise from a Joke to Chicago's Drink". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on July 14, 2023. Retrieved July 14, 2023. Over the past five years, Malört spread from being available only in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Louisiana to being sold in 30 states.
  18. ^ Watson, Bruce (September 11, 2010). "Turning Foul Flavors Into Sweet Success". Yahoo!. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  19. ^ Cavanaugh, Amy (February 2, 2013). "John Hodgman Loves Malort: "It Tastes Like Pencil Shavings And Heartbreak"". Gothamist. Archived from the original on November 3, 2014. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  20. ^ Conrad, Marissa (December 21, 2015). "Drink This: Malort takes another stab at being drinkable". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  21. ^ Wiley, Melissa (July 30, 2013). "Malört Tastes Almost Decent In Snow Cones". Chicagoist. Archived from the original on August 4, 2013. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  22. ^ a b Krapek, Chris (October 2, 2013). "Drinking Buddies Makes Me Want to Get Drunk". HuffPost. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  23. ^ Hernandez, Joseph (March 6, 2017). "Order a Chicago Handshake". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on April 2, 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  24. ^ Wetli, Patty (September 22, 2015). "Best Malort Bar in Town: High-Hat Takes the Crown and Is Throwing a Party". DNAinfo.com. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  25. ^ Colon, Ambar (May 21, 2024). "Cicada-infused Malört shots are all the buzz at Lombard brewpub". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  26. ^ McGrath, William (January 6, 2016). "Associate IP Director McGrath Details Malort's Challenging Road to Trademark Protection". The John Marshall Law School. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  27. ^ "Malört – Trademark Details". Justia Trademarks. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  28. ^ Sullivan, Emmet (March 27, 2014). "The Power of Malört". Chicago. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
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