A taste of Jeppson’s Malört, Chicago’s most disgusting drink?

My roommate Steve’s eyes lit up when he saw online that Racine Plumbing, the bar we were planning to head to Saturday night, were advertising $3 shots of Malört. Steve’s roommate in college had once told him of tales of this Malört, a liquor only available in Chicago that is considered to be one of the world’s most fowl tasting beverages. Now I consider Steve’s college roommate to be a true connoisseur of awfully unpalatable alcoholic drinks and that meant only one thing: we had to try a shot of Malört.

A woman after trying a swig of Jeppson's Malort

I didn’t have to scour the internet for long to find some horrendous reviews of Malört. One bartender described it’s taste as “stomach bile and dirt” and another commented “it’s not strong, it just tastes terrible”. But what is remarkable about Jeppson’s Malört is that it’s producer makes no attempt whatsoever to claim their product tastes alright, in fact they do quite the opposite and actively promote it’s vile taste. The statement “our liquor is rugged and unrelenting (even brutal) to the palate” is written on the bottle’s label, which also boasts the fact that “only 1 out of 49 men will drink Jeppson’s Malört”. Furthermore, they picked out “it tastes like the day Dad left” as the winner of their slogan competition and the picture above was featured on their Facebook page! Legend has it that the company’s previous employee (they only have one) loved a challenge – and trying to market a drink as nasty as Malört was the ultimate challenge.

Just as our taste buds began to tremble with fear, we received some bad news. We were now going to a different bar. However, we were determined to try a shot of this legendary drink and elected to stop by Racine Plumbing on the way there. We agreed to not chase the drink, so that we would have the duration of the ten minute walk to the next bar to savor the bitter taste that “just lingers and lasts – seemingly forever” according to the brutally honest label.

So how was it? Well, actually, it wasn’t that bad. Yes it was a little unusual and unpleasant. No I did not order another shot nor will I ever order it again. Yes the peculiar aftertaste did linger nastily and yes when I burped it was the most horrific tasting burp to ever be released from my mouth. But it didn't completely ruin my night like I thought it was going to. Horrendously putrid? No. Chicago’s most disgusting drink? Probably.

The verdict? Not terrible.