On Manhattan’s Malort Trail
For One Night Only, Chicago Came to New York, at Porchlight and The Riff Raff Club. Plus Two Cocktail Recipes!
All of a sudden, when you’re not looking for it, there is Malört.
Monday night I interviewed journalist Josh Noel about his new book, which tells the story of Jeppson’s Malört, the bitter wormwood liqueur intensely associated with Chicago, whose citizens love to both defend and hate it. The first question I asked him was when he first tasted it and what was his reaction was—because that’s always the first question when it comes to Malört.
I remember the first time I tasted Malört. It was 2012. I was interviewing bartender Toby Maloney—who is featured in Noel’s book—about something or other. Maloney opened the cocktail bar at The Violet Hour in Chicago, thus ushering the Cocktail Renaissance into the Windy City. Somehow, Malört came up in the conversation and he asked if I knew about it. I did not.
But, of course, I’m a journalist and journalists don’t simply let things like that go. We are innately curious. So I called up my sister who lives in the Chicago area and asked her if she would drive to a local liquor store and buy a bottle of Malört and mail it to me. She did. When it arrived, I cracked it open and took a swig. It was bitter and astringent as promised, but not as bad as I had feared.
A month later, I got an email from Maloney. He said he had just come back from Chicago and was in New York. He had something for me.
I wrote back, “Is it Malört? Because I have a bottle.”
He wrote back, “Damn!”