Jeppson's Malort (Wormwood) Liqueur 750ml

Jeppson's Malört traces back to Carl Jeppson, a Swedish immigrant who settled near Chicago's Clybourn and Division around the 1920s and began producing bäsk brännvin, a traditional Swedish bitter spirit flavored with wormwood. During Prohibition he sold it door to door as a supposedly medicinal tonic, reportedly explaining to skeptical authorities that his concoction was too bitter for anyone to drink recreationally. After repeal, the recipe passed through several owners, including George Brode's company and later the Mar-Salle distillery, and production eventually moved out of Chicago before Tremaine Atkinson of CH Distillery bought the brand in 2018 and brought manufacturing back to the city in 2019.

The spirit starts as a neutral grain base infused with wormwood and other botanicals, with the recipe still a closely guarded secret. Unlike absinthe, which tempers wormwood's bitterness with anise and fennel, Malört leaves that harshness largely unbalanced, macerating the wormwood to extract its full intensity. After infusion, the liquid is filtered and diluted to 35 percent alcohol by volume, with its pale yellow color coming naturally from the botanical infusion rather than added coloring.

The result is intensely bitter and medicinal on the nose, with herbaceous, grapefruit-pith character running through the palate. The bitterness lingers long after swallowing, giving Malört its reputation as one of the most challenging spirits on the market.