Beloved by the brave and brazen, Chicago’s iconic Jeppson’s Malört liquor will become available in Ohio, the company announced Monday, March 20.
“It’s official! Jeppson’s Malört and CH Distillery are officially launching in Ohio. We are extremely excited for this partnership with Heidelberg Distributing,” the company said on Instagram.
Production of Malört started in Chicago in the 1930s before bouncing to Kentucky and Florida, but the hard-to-find spirit has most commonly been found in Chicago, where it developed a cult following for its in-your-face botanical bitterness.
The spirit must be confronted to be understood, but one could say it tastes like bitter herbs were watered with gasoline and someone bottled the runoff. Author and actor John Hodgman once described the spirit as tasting like “pencil shavings and heartbreak.”
The signature sinister taste of Malört comes from wormwood, the key ingredient in a bäsk, which is a bitter-flavored type of Swedish brännvin. Malört is the Swedish word for wormwood, which is also the key ingredient in absinthe.
Chicagoans have shot back Malört with an Old Style beer for years, calling the boilermaker a “Chicago Handshake.”
According to a spokesperson for Jeppson’s Malört, Ohioans can expect to see the unruly spirt hit local shelves starting April 1. Coming soon: CityBeat Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting Cincinnati stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.
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This article appears in Mar 8-21, 2023.