Malört.
It’s the punch line to a thousand jokes.
It’s the butt of self-defacing marketing.
It’s mouth-puckering, face-contorting, bend-over painful as a shot (at least the first 50 times) and ... it’s legendary.
But did you know this Chicago liqueur was made in Florida?
Did you know that despite many mysteries and legends, Malört was for decades the passion project of one guy, an local attorney without whom this quaff would not – for better or for worse – exist?
While this bitter brew – invented by a Swedish immigrant as a medicine – may initially send you running in the other direction, its story is not only out-of-this-world interesting and unlikely, it’s also surprisingly sweet.
Thankfully, we know that story in detail now thanks to Chicago writer Josh Noel, long the beer writer for the Chicago Tribune and the author of “Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out: Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business.”
Noel’s latest book, “Malört: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit” – published by Chicago Review Press – tells the story of this Chicago spirit, and he comes back to Milwaukee on Thursday, Nov. 14 for a 6 p.m. book event at Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge, 1579 S. 9th St.
Tickets can be purchased here.
We caught up with Noel to ask him about Malört, the book and möre.
OnMilwaukee: I think most people know you as a beer guy, so while a book on Malört isn't exactly an entirely different world, it may seem a bit unexpected. What led you to it?
Josh Noel: I am a beer guy but even more than that I love to tell a good narrative. Just as Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch and the rise of craft beer was a good story, so was Malört.
It was obvious from my years of writing about it at the Chicago Tribune that people were fascinated by the subject, but I also knew that there was so much unknown about its backstory. Stitching together the narrative of how Malört became the sensation it is seemed like a great story to tell and it was.
Were you a fan of Malört or were you one of the countless who held your nose if you found yourself with a shot glass of it in front of you?
I sincerely enjoy Malört and always have. I keep a bottle at home and was having a shot in my kitchen one night when struck with the idea for the book. It is bitter and astringent but I really enjoy its herbal grapefruit rind character.
Why do you think it has that reputation? After all, lots of bitters, liqueurs and liquors have strong, unique flavors?
Malört’s reputation is grounded in several factors, including the mystery and lore – the dated label, the fact it was identified so fiercely with Chicago, the odd fact that it was made in Florida for so long – to be sold only in Chicago.
For years it was just this weird mystery, its very existence so strange and unlikely. Of course there’s also the taste, which is not only bitter but wildly unbalanced – an extreme and uncompromising point of view. I think people appreciate that it is so radical in its approach. It makes Malört more than a drink, but an experience.
In Malört’s case, the story is at least as unusual as the taste, isn't it? Can you give folks who don't know its background the elevator speech version of its history?
Yes, it’s a story as unique as the product, indeed. The short history is that a Swedish immigrant named Carl Jeppson began selling it in Chicago during prohibition to fellow Swedes. Malört is a besk – a classic Swedish digestif – so that audience would have been well familiar with it.
He sold the brand to a young liquor executive in 1935 named George Brode. George sold his liquor business in 1953 to practice law, but kept one brand – Jeppson’s Malört, which became his life’s work and hobby.
Malört never sold much but George kept at it. He died in 1999, leaving the brand to a woman known publicly as his secretary, Pat Gabelick. As you might guess, she was more than that to him.
Under Pat’s ownership, the brand enjoyed a resurgence – though she is the first person to admit she had nothing to do with it; she was among the last people to realize it was happening. Figuring out why George kept it afloat so long, why he left it to his secretary and how it surged into the modern culture were all questions that needed to be answered.
As you can see, I had a lot to work with!
What was the best part, for you, about writing the book?
Most rewarding was realizing that the story behind Malört was even more interesting than the drink. What amazes me is that Malört exists at all. There were so many moments where Malört could have and even should have disappeared but it endured against the odds.
That was due mostly to the people and relationships who are really at the heart of the Malört story – Pat, George and others. It’s just a fascinating web of people and relationships.
Did doing the book change your enjoyment of Malört as a drink?
If anything it has only heightened my appreciation, especially as a cocktail ingredient. In the couple months since the book was released I’ve had some extraordinary Malört cocktails.
Any other irons in the fire, as it were, these days?
Planning on another book, most likely not about something to drink. Details to come!
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
