Why do parts of the Midwest love such awful booze?
That is Jeppson’s Malört, a wormwood liqueur invented by Carl Jeppson, a Swedish immigrant to the city almost a century ago. The spirit is so closely associated with Chicago that it includes a version of its flag on the bottle . It tastes, connoisseurs say, a little like an old shoe. Yet its owners would like it to sell elsewhere.
In late March Malört went on sale in Ohio, with a flurry of publicity mostly focused on how awful it is. Since 2018, whenDistillery, a small Chicago-based maker of vodka, gins and other spirits, bought the brand, it has expanded sales to around 30 states, says Tremaine Atkinson, the firm’s. The market is already there, largely because “Chicagoans land in other places and they all seem to get nostalgic about Malört,” he says.
And what about the core market, Chicago proper? Some might expect the growing sophistication of American drinking culture to reduce the appeal of bizarre hooch. Visitors to even the smallest towns can now usually buy a fancy craft beer made nearby, so why drink something awful to feel like a local? Drinks like Malört seem to hold on as a symbol of regional pride. Indeed, some fancy bars have recently started offering Malört cocktails—a less traumatising way to try the city spirit.
Of course, Malört is not the only Midwestern alcoholic speciality outsiders are shocked by. In Wisconsin, locals drink a sickly sweet version of an Old Fashioned made with Korbel, a Californian brandy, and Sprite, topped with a glazed cherry. Over half of Korbel’s sales are in the Badger State. In Michigan a popular cocktail, the “Hummer”, features white rum, Kahlúa and two full scoops of vanilla ice cream.
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