Episode 235

Malört Report with Tremaine Atkinson of CH Distillery

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Malört Report with Tremaine Atkinson of CH Distillery

Episode 235

What’s shakin’ cocktail fans?

Welcome to Episode 235 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast! I’m your host, Eric Kozlik.

Thanks for joining me for this interview episode, where we track down the best and brightest minds in the spirits and cocktail world so that we can share their secrets with you. This time around, I’m joined by distiller and entrepreneur Tremaine Atkinson, who runs CH Distillery, Chicago’s leading artisan spirits producer, and, more importantly for this conversation, the manufacturer of Jeppson’s Malört.

Many of you will be familiar with this bracingly bitter wormwood liqueur as a quintessential Chicago rite of passage, or as a gentle punishment bestowed upon unruly guests by cheeky bartenders. But even if you haven’t tried Malört yourself, you know that it has a serious reputation for being unapologetically bitter and in-your-face.

In this fascinating conversation with Tremaine Atkinson of CH Distillery, manufacturers of Jeppson’s Malört, some of the topics we discuss include:

How Tremaine left his career in finance to jump-start an old dream that once had him peddling kegs of beer in San Francisco – a move that ultimately resulted in the founding of CH Distillery
The complicated story of Jeppson’s Malört, which began as a DIY Swedish palate cleanser, then had a harrowing, medicinal encounter with Prohibition, took a decades-long detour to the Sunshine State, and finally made a triumphant return to its spiritual home in Chicago.
Why bitter tastes come with some strange psychological baggage, and why wormwood – specifically Northern European wormwood – is so crucial to the iconic bitterness of Jeppson’s Malört.
We also delve into some of the more humbling experiences involved with acquiring a legacy brand – like the need to reverse engineer the Malört recipe from scratch and that awkward moment when a room full of bartenders tells you it might taste a little TOO good.
Along the way, we explore the history of Scandinavian “besk” spirits, the marketing move that had consumers asking, “Is there Malört in that Bourbon?”, why taking shots is sometimes necessary to ensure quality control, and much, much more.

Featured Cocktail – The Hard Sell

This episode’s featured cocktail is The Hard Sell. Developed by Chicago bartender Brad Bolt in 2009 for Bar DeVille. To make it, you’ll need:

¾ oz. Jeppson’s Malört
¾ oz. London Dry Gin
¾ oz. St-Germain elderflower liqueur
¾ oz. fresh lemon juice

Combine these ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Give em a good, hard shake, then strain into a stemmed cocktail glass, and garnish with an expressed grapefruit twist. And don’t take your eye off that grapefruit. It’s going to feature prominently in our interview in just a few minutes.

This cocktail is, ostensibly, a Last Word riff created using Malört as the herbal ingredient (replacing Chartreuse) and St. Germaine as the mellow, sweet ingredient, replacing the Marschino Liqueur. Of this drink, Robert Simonson is purported to have said:

“St. Germain is a little too likable and Malort is not likable enough…it makes sense.”

But, in a move that shows just how persnickety Malört can be as a cocktail ingredient, Bolt reportedly changed the formulation of the cocktail to feature a full ounce of gin and elderflower liqueur. That means if you do try this cocktail at home, I hope you’ll write in and let me know if you prefer the true Last Word riff, or the more lopsided, sweeter rendition.

This episode was made possible with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed and Malört insights and storytelling courtesy of Tremaine Atkinson of CH Distillery, makers of Jeppson’s Malört. This has been a Modern Bar Cart production, copyright 2022.

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Malört Report with Tremaine Atkinson of CH Distillery

Featured Cocktail – The Hard Sell

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