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The Rise of Malört, an Unexpected Midwest princess

nytimes.com

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Re: The Rise of Malört, an Unexpected Midwest princess

#71

Post by RandallBrown »

adolph wrote: post #58
bdndndndbve wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a reference to the Chappell Roan album "The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess" which has been a smash hit this summer.

Oh how fascinating. What is the connection between the beverage and album? Or is it just a spurious reference by the headline to drive engagement?

> What is the connection between the beverage and album?

Malort is from Chicago, which is in the midwest, and it's blown up in popularity lately. I don't think there's anything else to it.

Re: The Rise of Malört, an Unexpected Midwest princess

#72

Post by PhasmaFelis »

strictnein wrote: post #53
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #20

> Mr. Wurth, who tended bar in Chicago for 10 years before moving down South, takes Polaroids of Malört first-timers and asks them to write descriptions of the drink on the border. Hundreds of snapshots plaster the walls of the bar’s two bathrooms. A sampling of their tiny captions: “Swamp grass in July,” “Pain” and, Mr. Wurth’s favorite, “The powder inside of a balloon.” Malört turns even the most prosaic into unexp…

Absinthe has redeeming qualities, even if you don't enjoy the anise/black licorice flavor (which I do not). Malort does not. It really is a different beast.

That is impressive and terrifying.

Re: The Rise of Malört, an Unexpected Midwest princess

#74

Post by jrochkind1 »

kasey_junk wrote: post #70
jrochkind1 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Americans don't historically usually drink amaros or bitters. Amaros seem to be gaining in popularity though, perhaps the malort resurgence is part of that trend. Right, it's a herbal bitter, not citrus like campari. And not an especially sweet one. I am not good at remembering brand names there are so many. One I enjoy that comes in tiny little bottles and does have a bit of a foothold in the USA is the digesti…

I think Underberg is a good comp. The problem with Malort is not that its bitter or the flavor profile of it, its the _quality_ of the drink. Underberg is bitter but well made and it tells dramatically when drinking them side by side. Amaro's generally speaking are _very_ popular in Chicago. When I first moved here and was more of an out at bars type of person it was _extremely_ common to drink Amaro, especially at t…

Oh yeah I'm not saying Malort is good. i find it mediocre. I feel like I've had worse (which I can't remember the name of because why). I enjoy em enough that if i was at a bar that only had Malort I'd drink it. (I don't like the menthol in Fernet Branca, although many do. Malort has no menthol flavor as I recall?)

But the marketing campaign, whether crowdsourced viral or intended, is that it's like this uniquely horrible thing.

If anyone is familiar with the category and enjoys it (certainly not everyone does), they won't find it particularly hard to drink or unusual. They will find it not very good, yes. Obviously that's not something you want to market.

As you say, it's not interesting. But "the worst drink you'll ever have" would of course be very interesting! It's not that Malort is great, it's that in fact it's not interesting at all, it's just a mediocre bitter digestif.

Re: The Rise of Malört, an Unexpected Midwest princess

#75

Post by reducesuffering »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #25
jrochkind1 wrote: post #6

I like it fine, it doesn't taste especially unusual among other herbal bitter liquors, a category I like. It's not the best (or as expensive as the best! they can get pricey), but it's not the worst, it's a fine drink. The NYT story above mostly stayed away from how it's become known as like "the worst drink ever" or something, something you drink as a kind of challenge rather than that it's enjoyable. I've suspected…

What are some other liquors in its category? Because it's much higher proof and lower sugar content than the bitter liquors people drink more or less unmixed. There are probably some similarly high proof amaros out there but they're pretty rare even within that category and an american would probably only encounter them mixed into a cocktail if even then. Fernet branca sure but that's much less bitter. Malort is actu…

I think the Nordic countries' Aquavit is more like Malort than the Italian Amaros are.

Fun fact: The Nordics are so cold, to age their Aquavit in casks, some producers would load them up on ships and send them to the equator and back. Linie Aquavit still does this tradition.

Personally, Italian Amaros are much better than Aquavit or Malort though. Forget Fernet when there's Averna.

Re: The Rise of Malört, an Unexpected Midwest princess

#76

Post by nate »

tptacek wrote: post #37
0points wrote: post #10

Malört is the name of the herb wormwood in Swedish. The swedish name means "clothing moth herb", and has been used to fight cloth moths among other uses. Also especially popular spirit flavoring, which it's latin name hints of. Artemisia absinthium

I'd imagine there's as much actual wormwood in Malort as there is fruit in a Froot Loops.

Wait. Fruit loops are made of corn. Corn is a fruit! :)

Re: The Rise of Malört, an Unexpected Midwest princess

#77

Post by nate »

nate wrote: post #76
tptacek wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd imagine there's as much actual wormwood in Malort as there is fruit in a Froot Loops.

Wait. Fruit loops are made of corn. Corn is a fruit! :)

Jesus. I'm also today years old when I learned they're spelled Froot loops, not Fruit loops.

Re: The Rise of Malört, an Unexpected Midwest princess

#78

Post by jboggan »

My friends make a cocktail with Malort, White Monster, and C4 preworkout. They also have a multi-year running gag where they offer me a bottle of fine whiskey or bourbon at a campfire but it has in fact been replaced by Malort. Then, when I am choking and gagging someone else offers me some water to wash away the taste, which is in fact also Malort.

Re: The Rise of Malört, an Unexpected Midwest princess

#80

Post by pessimizer »

samgranieri wrote: post #17
duped wrote: post #8

> It is also, in five words, the unofficial liquor of Chicago No, it's a meme that hipsters have somehow latched onto because the Chicago aesthetic seems to be popular now. If a native Chicagoan tells you that you have to have a shot of Malort when you're at the bar because it's the "unofficial liquor of Chicago" - they're pulling a prank. It's somehow lasted a century as a prank you pull on your buddies who don't dr…

I live in the Chicago suburbs now and used to live in Chicago. Taking shots of Malört in bars is indeed a rite of passage for tourists, but yeah, it's a foul-tasting shot. Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker was recorded sharing shots of Malört with visiting politicians during the week of the Democratic National Convention. I enjoyed looking at the reaction of the visiting politicians after they drank it.

Pritzker is a rich guy who grew up in California and Massachusetts, so in Chicago he's an absolutely typical Malort drinker. It's become a big part of pretending to be local.
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