The unusual and polarizing spirit Jeppson’s Malört is expanding its retail availability.
Ohioans will soon be able to purchase bottles of the notoriously bitter spirit. The brand, based in Illinois, announced its recent eastern expansion in a March 20 social media post:
It’s official! Jeppson’s Malört and CH Distillery are officially launching in Ohio. We are extremely excited for this partnership with Heidelberg Distributing. @HeidelbergDist pic.twitter.com/ht3HZp3TFZ
— Jeppson’s Malört (@JeppsonsMalort) March 21, 2023
“It’s official! Jeppson’s Malört and CH Distillery are officially launching in Ohio. We are extremely excited for this partnership with Heidelberg Distributing,” the company notes in the Tweet.
Malört is a wormwood-based digestif with a distinctively strong, bitter aroma and taste. It’s long been associated with Chicago drinking culture and was first innovated by Swedish immigrant Carl Jeppson. He created the spirit during Prohibition and sold it as a medicine, avoiding legal interference “given the recurring conclusion by law enforcement that nobody would drink his concoction recreationally,” according to the brand.
It’s typically consumed in a shot or sipped neat, for those who can stomach it. The brand’s iconic product was produced in Chicago pre-1986 and later moved production to Kentucky and Florida before finally landing back in Chicago in 2019.
The company’s marketing heavily leans heavily into the unusual taste of its digestif, boasting on its website that it’s been “weeding out the weak since 1933.” Its polarizing taste inspired a slew of now-viral Youtube videos, as users recorded themselves trying the spirit for the first time.
The brand is set to partner with Heidelberg Distributing, a family-owned distributor that offers alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to retailers in Ohio and Kentucky. Bottles of Malört are expected to hit store shelves starting April 1, according to Cincinnati CityBeat.
Malört can be purchased online (in states where permitted) through Barcart delivery and a select handful of retailers in the U.S., for anyone brave enough to taste it.
