Like all things legendarily awful, Jeppson’s Malört is having a moment. Recent years have found the not-for-the-faint-of-heart Chicago spirit (ironically?) worming its way back into drinking pop-culture—in Chicago, Milwaukee, and beyond. Hell, Busby’s is hosting the return of Milwaukee Malört Fest on Sunday, November 17!
And would you believe that there’ll be another Malört event in Milwaukee a few days prior? Yep! On Thursday, November 14, Chicago author Josh Noel will stop by the venerable Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge to celebrate the release of his new book, Malört: The Redemption Of A Revered And Reviled Spirit. Tickets to the event (6-7:30 p.m., doors at 5) are $18, and include “one specially crafted cocktail (gratuity and sales tax included).” And yes, Bryant’s will create a “special Malört-inspired cocktail list” for the occasion, too. Get your tickets HERE.
“It is one of the least likely business and love stories ever,” Noel says of his book, “exploring how an intensely bitter liquor that people roundly despised somehow survived long enough to not only find its place in a shifting culture, but become the aforementioned cultural sensation.”
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Here’s more, from the book’s synopsis. Pucker up!
The cursory history has been told and retold: A Swedish immigrant peddled Malört in Chicago in the early 20th century before selling it to a local businessman. The businessman had it for decades. He died in 1999 and left the brand to his secretary.
It somehow reentered the public consciousness around 2012 and became a cultural sensation inspiring songs, poems, tattoos — so many tattoos! — and more. Meanwhile, sales spiked. What was an oddball cultural afterthought became a city’s badge of honor.
Finally, the secretary sold Malört to Chicago’s CH Distillery, which brought production back from Florida (where it had been made for years) and expanded distribution for a new generation of fans.
It’s a narrative that begs far more questions than it answers.
How did such a strange product survive so long?
How did it suddenly become so popular?
Why was it made in Florida to be sold only in Chicago?
He left it … to his secretary?
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