Jeppson's Malört

Jeppson's Malört is an American brand of bäsk, a bitter Swedish-style brännvin liqueur flavored with wormwood. The product is strongly associated with Chicago, where Swedish immigrant Carl Jeppson introduced and popularized it. In Swedish, malört means wormwood, the herb that gives the drink its distinctive bitterness. Although the word is sometimes used informally for the broader style of wormwood-flavored liquor, Jeppson's Malört is a trademarked brand name owned by the Carl Jeppson Company. The drink's origins in Chicago date to the Prohibition era. Jeppson is said to have sold his liquor door-to-door as a medicinal product in the 1920s, using that presentation to navigate restrictions on alcohol sales. The brand was introduced commercially in Chicago during the 1930s. Its unusual flavor profile became central to its identity: Malört is famously dry, intensely bitter, and often described by drinkers as challenging or unpleasant. The product has sometimes been compared with absinthe because both use wormwood, but Jeppson's Malört is a different beverage and contains very little thujone, the compound historically associated with absinthe's psychoactive reputation. For much of its history, the brand was a small, locally concentrated business. Production took place in Chicago until the Mar-Salle distillery closed in the mid-1970s. Manufacturing subsequently moved to Kentucky for a short period and then to Florida, while the brand remained closely identified with Chicago. Attorney George Brode acquired Jeppson's original recipe and developed the bottle testimonial that became part of the product's identity. After Brode's death in 1999, Patricia Gabelick continued operating the business from her Lakeview apartment, preserving the brand through a period when it remained difficult to find outside the Chicago area. A major transition occurred in 2018, when the Carl Jeppson Company and the Malört brand were sold to Chicago-based CH Distillery as the company's last employee prepared to retire. Production returned to Chicago in 2019. Under CH Distillery, the brand received greater production and distribution support, and availability expanded across additional United States markets during the early 2020s. CH Distillery co-founder Joseph Atkinson has described Malört as an acquired taste and has helped connect the product with Chicago's independent bar and spirits scene. Jeppson's Malört is generally consumed as a shot, but it also appears in cocktails, beer combinations, desserts, and novelty food-and-drink creations. It is one-half of the Chicago Handshake, a local boilermaker pairing a Malört shot with an Old Style beer. Its reputation has been reinforced by bartenders, comedians, filmmakers, and specialty venues. John Hodgman's stage shows have used the spirit as a comic prop, while the 2013 film Drinking Buddies presented a Malört shot as a Chicago tradition. Bars and food businesses have experimented with Malört snow cones, pie, and other products. The brand's notoriety has gradually become a commercial asset. Once regarded primarily as a niche regional liquor and a test of endurance, it has become a recognizable symbol of Chicago culture and an example of how an abrasive flavor can support a strong identity. Reported Malört-shot sales rose from approximately 0.4 million in 2007 to 7.9 million in 2022, although the brand remains especially concentrated in the Midwest. Its appeal is based less on conventional smoothness or luxury positioning than on local authenticity, humor, ritual, and the shared experience of trying an unusually bitter drink.

Carl Jeppson, a Swedish immigrant in Chicago, is credited with creating and popularizing the drink that became Jeppson's Malört. During the 1920s, he reportedly sold the liquor door-to-door while presenting it as medicine, a method associated with operating during Prohibition. The brand was introduced in Chicago in the 1930s. Its name comes from the Swedish word for wormwood, the principal flavoring botanical in bäsk. The resulting drink is a brännvin-style liqueur with an unusually bitter profile. The product's early commercial history is connected with the Carl Jeppson Company. Attorney George Brode acquired Jeppson's original recipe and developed a testimonial that was printed on bottles and became part of the brand's recognizable presentation. Patricia Gabelick joined Brode's business as a secretary in 1966. Following Brode's death in 1999, she took over the operation and maintained the brand as a small, locally oriented enterprise, reportedly running it from her Lakeview apartment. Manufacturing geography changed over time. Jeppson's Malört was produced in Chicago until the Mar-Salle distillery closed in the mid-1970s. Production then moved briefly to Kentucky and later to Florida. Despite those moves, the drink remained culturally tied to Chicago. For many years its principal market was the Chicago area, where it was served in neighborhood bars and purchased from local liquor stores. Its bitterness made it a niche product, but also gave it a distinctive ritual role among bartenders, bikers, and Chicago's South Side community. The brand's identity increasingly developed through popular culture and local experimentation. Malört became a component of the Chicago Handshake, pairing a shot of the spirit with an Old Style beer. It was referenced in the 2013 film Drinking Buddies, used in John Hodgman's stage performances, and incorporated into food and beverage experiments. Examples included a Malört-infused snow cone at Chicago's Red Door in 2013 and a Malört meringue-style pie called the Chicago Sunrise from Hoosier Mama Pie Co. in 2017. In 2015, Chicago's High-Hat Club received the Carl Cup after being voted the city's best Malört bar, and the trophy became a recurring local award. The Carl Jeppson Company secured the Malört trademark on November 3, 2015. This distinction matters because malört is also the Swedish word for wormwood and can be confused with a generic category of wormwood-flavored spirits. Other producers adjusted their naming in response: Letherbee used Bësk, while FEW Spirits called its comparable product Anguish and Regret. In 2018, CH Distillery, based in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, acquired the Jeppson's Malört brand and company name as the previous operation's last employee retired. Production returned to Chicago in 2019. During the early 2020s, CH Distillery expanded distribution to additional United States markets. This helped shift the product from a largely local specialty to a more widely recognized American spirits brand, while retaining its deliberately polarizing character. Malört's reputation remains an important part of its history. It has been called infamous and compared humorously with unpleasant substances, but those reactions have become part of the product's social appeal. The brand is now associated with initiation rituals, Chicago pride, comedy, independent bars, and curiosity-driven consumption. Reported Malört-shot sales grew from approximately 0.4 million in 2007 to 7.9 million in 2022. In 2024, a Lombard, Illinois brewpub even offered cicada-infused Malört shots, demonstrating how the spirit continues to support local novelty and cultural events. The brand's trajectory illustrates how a small regional liquor can build national recognition through place-based identity, distinctive taste, and memorable storytelling.

• 2022

  Reported growth in Malört shots

  [1]Jeppson's Malörten.wikipedia.org

  Reported shot sales reached approximately 7.9 million, up from approximately 0.4 million in 2007.

• 2019

  Manufacturing returns to Chicago

  [1]Jeppson's Malörten.wikipedia.org

  Production moved back to Chicago under CH Distillery.

• 2018

  Acquisition by CH Distillery

  [1]Jeppson's Malörten.wikipedia.org

  CH Distillery acquired the brand and company name.

• 2015

  Malört trademark secured

  [1]Jeppson's Malörten.wikipedia.org

  The Carl Jeppson Company secured the trademark for the Malört brand name on November 3.

• 1999

  Gabelick takes over operations

  [1]Jeppson's Malörten.wikipedia.org

  After George Brode's death, Patricia Gabelick assumed control of the business.

• 1970

  Production leaves Chicago

  [1]Jeppson's Malörten.wikipedia.org

  After the Mar-Salle distillery closed in the mid-1970s, production moved first to Kentucky and later to Florida.

• 1966

  Patricia Gabelick joins the business

  [1]Jeppson's Malörten.wikipedia.org

  Patricia Gabelick joined George Brode's business as his secretary.

• 1930

  Chicago introduction

  [1]Jeppson's Malörten.wikipedia.org

  Jeppson's Malört was introduced in Chicago during the 1930s.

• 1920

  Early door-to-door sales

  [1]Jeppson's Malörten.wikipedia.org

  Carl Jeppson reportedly began selling his wormwood-flavored liquor door-to-door as medicine during the Prohibition era.

A fiercely Chicago-associated, highly bitter regional spirits brand positioned around authenticity, ritual, humor, acquired taste, and local cultural identity rather than smoothness or conventional premium-liquor appeal.

• Bäsk brännvin liqueur

  Jeppson's Malört

  The brand's core wormwood-flavored liqueur. It is known for a pronounced bitterness, dry finish, and low thujone content. The spirit is commonly served as a chilled shot, especially in Chicago, but it is also used in cocktails, beer pairings, desserts, and novelty preparations. Its polarizing taste is central to the product's identity and marketing.

• 2024Cicada-infused Malört shots

  Lombard, Illinois

  A Lombard brewpub offered Malört shots incorporating periodical cicadas during a prominent Chicago-area cicada emergence.

  Outcome. The limited novelty highlighted the brand's association with local humor and unusual consumption rituals.

  Source
• 2017Chicago Sunrise pie

  Chicago

  Hoosier Mama Pie Co. used Jeppson's Malört in a meringue-style pie called the Chicago Sunrise.

  Outcome. The product experiment extended the brand beyond drinking occasions and connected it with local food culture.

  Source
• 2013Malört snow cone

  Chicago

  Red Door bar featured a seasonal snow cone made with Malört, Benedictine, and Angostura orange bitters, placing the spirit in a playful frozen-dessert format.

  Outcome. The activation reinforced Malört's role in Chicago's experimental bar culture.

  Source

• 2019

  Return production to ChicagoStrategy

  Background

  Production had been outside Illinois for decades, despite the brand's strong Chicago identity.

  Action taken

  CH Distillery moved manufacturing back to Chicago.

  Aftermath

  The move strengthened the connection between the product's place of manufacture and its Chicago positioning.

  Source

• 2018

  Sell the brand to CH DistilleryM&A

  Background

  The small Carl Jeppson Company was approaching a succession point as its last employee prepared to retire.

  Action taken

  The brand and company name were sold to Chicago-based CH Distillery.

  Aftermath

  The acquisition preserved the brand, returned production to Chicago in 2019, and enabled broader United States distribution during the early 2020s.

  Source

1. 1Jeppson's Malörten.wikipedia.org
2. 2Official Jeppson's Malört websitejeppsonsmalort.com