(Editor's note: This is the second feature story derived from WBBM Newsradio's latest edition of Looped In: Chicago examining the local origins of Malört, a 70-proof wormwood spirit that has fans and foes alike)
(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – If you hate Jeppson's Malört, Chicago’s Nisei Lounge may not be for you.
The Lake View tavern, which bills itself as Wrigleyville’s oldest bar, “sells more Malört than anywhere on the entire planet,” according to one employee.
That would be bartender Val Capone (that’s the name she gives, anyway). Her job title is Director of Malört Infusions for Nisei Labs at Nisei Lounge.
The lounge is known for its Malört mixtures, which all began, Capone says, with a candy cane concoction. This was a natural because of the tavern’s omnipresent holiday decorations.
Then, people started wondering aloud why there couldn’t be a Malört drink with a St. Patrick’s Day theme. Challenge accepted.
Capone explains: “The Nisei way is Ok, you want green Malört? Well guess what: Here’s green in the form of sport peppers. Because sport peppers – if anybody’s ever had a Chicago dog – [are] essential, and they’re green.”
You don’t go nuts with the peppers. “There’s a very specific amount of sport peppers I put in,” she advises. “Otherwise, you can really hurt somebody’s esophagus.”
Myriad Malört infusions have been developed and carefully calibrated by Capone, who considers herself a “facilitator of fun.”
“I just like making people happy, and if it means getting weird with some artichokes inside a bottle of Malört, let’s get weird,” she says. “Coffee Malört is definitely right up there on the top of the heap of best flavors. But also sauerkraut is quite delicious.
"And speaking of dill-icious, let’s throw some pickles in Malört and make the magic happen. And so, people come from all over and say, ‘Val, what do you have on the menu this week?’”
There has been trial and error and outright Malört misfires, she admits. Mango Habanero took a lot of R & D. Pumpkin spice Malört was a bust, as was dry hops Malört, which resembled “baby vomit,” Capone recalls.
If you don’t like Malört, no surprise that Capone disagrees with you. The core wormwood spirit, which is distilled in Pilsen, fondly reminds her of eating grapefruit halves with her grandmother as a child. Sometimes she’d get a little bitter rind down the hatch.
“That to me is what Malört is like – it’s that hella bitter that almost makes you shiver to your tailbone,” she says.
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