Daywatch: Where a quarter-million shots of Malört are sold each year
Good morning, Chicago.
Malört has been testing Chicagoans’ creative limits for decades, with descriptions becoming more foul as the drink gets more popular.
The bitter wormwood-based Swedish schnapps has been compared to baby tears mixed with gasoline, wrung-out sweaty gym socks and bug spray.
The Tribune asked the bars that go through the most bottles of Malört annually what makes the concoction so loved and so hated. Chicago-based CH Distillery, the sole distributor of Malört, estimates that its top accounts sell upward of a quarter-million shots a year.
“Whether you like it or not, it is a Chicago staple,” said Ryanne Mainard, bartender and manager at Reggies, the top account, on the Near South Side. “You see it and you feel like it’s a taste from home.”
Mainard is known as the “Queen of Malört” at Reggies. It’s not just because she decided to exclusively drink Malört six years ago, but also because she’s persuaded numerous customers and Reggies employees to appreciate what she describes as Aqua Net hair spray mixed with grapefruit. Read the full story here.
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