“I love the taste of bile in the afternoon,” said John Smith, a former Bellingham bartender, after taking a shot of Malört on a recent Monday at Bella Ciao. The Chicago tavern-style pizzeria boasts “Malört Mondays” where you can get a shot of the infamous liqueur for just $5.
The flavor is difficult to describe — a mix of black licorice and rotten grapefruit with a strong aftertaste of bug spray? It depends on who you talk to (some enjoy it). The consensus is that it’s bad, and Chicago, from where the drink hails, is proud of how bad it is.
We can thank the Constitution’s 18th Amendment for the creation of the wormwood (what Malört means in Swedish) beverage. During Prohibition, Carl Jeppson produced Malört as a tonic to kill parasites, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Like most tonics that claim to kill parasites, it was a lie.
In the 2000s, bartender Sam Mechling began tricking people into trying the liquor and documenting the “Malört faces” — ones of pain — they’d make for social media. The drink became a Chicago meme and sales soared as bar-goers found a new way to mess with their friends.
In recent years it spread, landing in Bellingham at several bars (but only on tap at Bella Ciao).
“Malört became famous outside of Chicago for the same reason that Fernet did, which is, bartenders are assholes,” restaurant owner Jabriel Donohue said. “That means, one of our greatest joys is making each other drink things that aren’t pleasant.”
WTD is published online Mondays and in print Fridays. Have a suggestion for a "What's the Deal With?" inquiry? Email us at newstips@cascadiadaily.com.
Hailey Hoffman is a CDN visual journalist; reach her at haileyhoffman@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 103.
