15 Malort Cocktails That Will Boldly Redefine Your Cocktail Game

Updated at: 14-05-2026 - By: John Lau

There are spirits that play it safe, and then there is malort. If you have ever been handed a shot of Jeppson’s Malört at a Chicago dive bar, you know exactly what happens next: a slow, creeping bitterness that blooms across your palate like a weed garden in summer, followed by a finish that lingers long after you thought you had survived it. Some people flinch. Some people laugh. And some people, the curious and the bold, ask for another round.

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Malort cocktails have quietly been building a cult following beyond Chicago’s city limits, appearing on craft cocktail menus, in home bar experiments, and across social media feeds as daring mixologists discover what bitter-forward spirits can do when they are treated with intention and respect. Far from being a prank in a bottle, malort is a genuinely complex spirit that, when paired with the right ingredients, produces some of the most distinctive and memorable drinks you will ever sip.

Whether you are a seasoned cocktail enthusiast ready to push your palate into uncharted territory, or you simply want to understand what all the fuss is about, this guide is your invitation to explore the best malort cocktails out there. We are talking layered flavors, gorgeous presentations, and recipes that transform Chicago’s most infamous liqueur into something worth savoring.

What Is Malort And Why Is Everyone Obsessed With It?

To understand malort cocktails, you first need to understand the spirit at their heart, and that means a brief journey to the Swedish immigrant neighborhoods of early 20th-century Chicago.

Jeppson’s Malört is an American brand of bäsk liqueur, a type of brännvin flavored with wormwood. The word “malört” is literally the Swedish word for wormwood, a plant that has carried an air of mystique and bitterness throughout human history. Wormwood, the herb that gives both besk and absinthe their distinctive flavor, has been shorthand for bitterness through recorded history, even appearing in the Bible. Its association with something deeply, almost spiritually harsh runs through cultures and centuries.

The spirit’s Chicago story begins with one man. In the mid-1880s, Swedish immigrant Carl Jeppson arrived in Chicago and settled on the city’s North Side near the intersection of Clybourn and Division. As the Prohibition era began in the 1920s, cracking down on the country’s consumption of alcohol, Jeppson began brewing a traditional style of Swedish bitters and selling it as a “medicinal” product. His argument to law enforcement was brilliantly absurd: when Jeppson started selling his wormwood-based concoction around Chicago, the feds would taste it and conclude that no one would want to drink this stuff recreationally. They allowed it as a tonic. His brew survived Prohibition not because it was disguised, but because it was simply too intense for anyone to believe it was recreational.

Jeppson began producing his “bäskbrännvin,” a traditional Swedish-style of bitters, and sold it as a medicinal product that rid imbibers of stomach worms and other parasites. Jeppson skirted federal regulation given the recurring conclusion by law enforcement that nobody would drink his concoction recreationally. After Prohibition’s repeal, the recipe was sold and commercialized, eventually landing in the hands of attorney George Brode, who renamed the company Carl Jeppson Co. after Jeppson’s death in 1949.

For decades, malort stayed quietly regional. Malort developed a customer base, but it never really became popular. Production even left Chicago in the 1980s, moving first to Kentucky and then to Florida for over three decades. It was social media that changed everything. In the 2000s, Malört began making a comeback. Bartenders leaned into its infamous reputation, serving it as a challenge or inside joke. People started posting their “Malört face,” think puckered lips, watering eyes, and instant expressions of regret, online.

The numbers tell a genuinely remarkable story. Sales of Malört shots increased from 0.4 million in 2007 to 7.9 million in 2022. That is not a typo. Nearly 20 times the volume in under 15 years, fueled largely by meme culture, Chicago pride, and a genuine renaissance in bitter-forward cocktail drinking. Over the past five years, Malört spread from being available only in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Louisiana to being sold in 30 states.

Ninety percent of Jeppson’s is produced and consumed in Cook County, but that home-court domination is slowly giving way to national curiosity. In 2018, Tremaine Atkinson, chief executive officer and head distiller of Chicago’s CH Distillery, bought the company when Gabelick retired. Production of Malört had moved to Florida in the late 1980s, but under Atkinson, it returned to Chicago in 2019.

So what does malort actually taste like? The aroma is immediately herbal and vegetal, with dried wormwood and grapefruit pith dominating the nose. Behind the wall of bitterness, faint traces of chamomile, dandelion greens, and a subtle note of honey emerge with patience. On the palate, it is assertive, pithy, herbaceous, and long-finishing. Think of it as grapefruit pith given a spine of alcohol and a philosophy degree.

Culturally, malort has become something much bigger than a bottle of liqueur. Throwing back a shot of the bitter liquor is practically a rite of passage for many. If you stay long enough at any Chicago dive bar, you are likely to see people order a Chicago Handshake: a shot of Malört with an Old Style beer. It has appeared in film, song, food collaborations, and even, memorably, in cicada-infused form at a 2024 Illinois brewpub.

For cocktail lovers, though, the real excitement lies in what happens when malort meets a skilled bartender’s imagination.

15 Best Malort Cocktails List

The Chicago Handshake

The one that started it all deserves its place at the top of any malort cocktails list. Simple, unapologetic, and deeply Chicagoan, the Chicago Handshake is less of a mixed cocktail and more of a ritual.

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Jeppson’s Malört
1 can or bottle of Old Style lager (or any crisp, light American lager)

Instructions:

Pour the Malört into a shot glass and set it on the bar.
Open your lager and pour it into a pint glass, leaving a small head of foam.
Knock back the shot of Malört in one go.
Chase immediately with a long sip of cold lager.
Let the crisp beer wash through the bitterness, and enjoy the aftertaste that somehow turns pleasant.

This is the classic Chicago dive bar experience in its purest form. The shot arrives golden-amber in its small glass, the lager shimmers pale and cold beside it. Together, they taste like an introduction to the city itself: a little rough on first impression, but deeply satisfying once you settle in. Best enjoyed on a Friday night in a dimly lit bar with good company.

The Palomalört

Chef Rick Bayless helped put this cocktail on the map, and it deserves every ounce of attention it receives. The Paloma is already one of the world’s great cocktails, and malort’s grapefruit-forward bitterness makes it a surprisingly natural fit.

Ingredients:

2 oz blanco tequila
0.75 oz fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz simple syrup (or agave nectar)
0.5 oz Jeppson’s Malört
2 oz grapefruit-flavored sparkling water or Squirt soda
Pinch of kosher salt
Grapefruit wedge and salted rim for garnish

Instructions:

Salt the rim of a highball glass by rubbing a grapefruit wedge along the edge, then pressing into coarse sea salt.
Fill the glass with fresh ice.
Combine tequila, fresh grapefruit juice, lime juice, simple syrup, and malört in a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake vigorously for 12 to 15 seconds until well chilled.
Strain over the ice-filled glass.
Top with grapefruit sparkling water and add a pinch of kosher salt directly into the drink.
Garnish with a grapefruit wedge perched on the rim.

The Palomalört arrives in a blush-pink flush of grapefruit glory, its salted rim winking with sophistication. The malört layers in a bitter depth beneath the tequila’s agave warmth, creating something that tastes simultaneously familiar and thrillingly strange. It is the perfect patio cocktail for those who like their summer drinks with a little edge.

The Malört Negroni

The Negroni is built on bitterness, balance, and boozy elegance. Swapping Campari for malort creates something darker, earthier, and unmistakably Chicago.

Ingredients:

1 oz Jeppson’s Malört
1 oz gin (a juniper-forward London Dry style works beautifully)
1 oz sweet vermouth
Orange peel for garnish
1 large ice cube

Instructions:

Add malört, gin, and sweet vermouth to a mixing glass filled with ice.
Stir slowly and deliberately for 30 to 40 seconds until well diluted and chilled.
Place one large, clear ice cube into a rocks glass.
Strain the cocktail over the ice.
Express an orange peel over the surface by squeezing it skin-side down to release the oils, then drop it into the drink or drape it over the rim.

Deep amber with a slight haze, this cocktail looks every bit as serious as it tastes. The vermouth’s sweetness plays referee between the gin’s botanical character and malört’s herbaceous wallop, and the orange oils on top add a bright citrus lift that keeps everything from getting too brooding. Ideal for a candlelit dinner, a quiet evening at home, or whenever you want to feel like the most interesting person in the room.

The Bitter End

This cocktail leans fully into malort’s grapefruit qualities, using the spirit as the star rather than a supporting player. Its simplicity is its beauty.

Ingredients:

2 oz Jeppson’s Malört
2 oz fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz simple syrup
2 oz Stiegl Grapefruit Radler (or grapefruit sparkling water)
Pinch of kosher salt
Fresh mint sprig for garnish

Instructions:

Combine malört, fresh grapefruit juice, lime juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake until frosty and well chilled, about 12 seconds.
Fill a tall Collins glass with fresh ice.
Strain the shaken mixture over the ice.
Top with the radler or grapefruit sparkling water.
Add a pinch of salt directly into the drink and give it one gentle stir.
Garnish with a fresh mint sprig, slapping it between your palms first to release the oils.

Pale gold with bubbles rising through it, garnished with vivid green mint, this drink is far more beautiful than its ingredients suggest it has any right to be. The citrus layers build on each other, and malort’s bitterness rounds out what would otherwise be a simple spritz into something with genuine depth. An ideal warm-weather sipper.

The Malört Paper Plane

The original Paper Plane, created by bartender Sam Ross, is a perfect equal-parts cocktail of whiskey, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and lemon. This malort riff replaces the amaro with Chicago’s favorite bitter, creating something with the same elegant structure and a decidedly sharper edge.

Ingredients:

0.75 oz bourbon whiskey
0.75 oz Aperol
0.75 oz Jeppson’s Malört
0.75 oz fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

Combine all four ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
Add ice and shake hard for 12 to 15 seconds.
Double strain (using both a Hawthorne strainer and a fine mesh strainer) into a chilled coupe glass.
No garnish needed, though a small lemon twist expressed over the top adds a lovely citrus pop.

This cocktail arrives in a chilled coupe like a little amber jewel, its surface shimmering with a fine foam from the shaking. Sweet, sour, and bracingly bitter in perfect proportion, it is the kind of drink that impresses seasoned cocktail enthusiasts and surprises skeptics alike. The malort gives it a distinctly more herbaceous, more Chicago character than the classic. Elegant enough for a date night, interesting enough for a cocktail party conversation.

The Chai Town

Named by a Chicago bartender who took a dare, this cocktail layers malort’s herbaceous bite with the warm spice of chai, creating a deeply unexpected harmony.

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Jeppson’s Malört
0.75 oz chai-infused simple syrup (steep 2 chai tea bags in hot simple syrup for 10 minutes, then cool)
0.5 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz whole milk or oat milk
Pinch of cinnamon for garnish

Instructions:

Prepare chai simple syrup ahead of time and chill completely.
Combine malört, chai syrup, fresh lemon juice, and milk in a cocktail shaker without ice.
Dry shake vigorously for 10 to 15 seconds to build foam.
Add ice and shake again for another 12 seconds.
Double strain into a chilled coupe or Nick and Nora glass.
Dust lightly with ground cinnamon using a fine sieve.

Creamy, spiced, and subtly bitter, the Chai Town arrives as a pale amber cloud in a delicate glass. The chai’s cardamom and clove notes soften the wormwood’s edge while giving it a sophisticated warmth, and the lemon keeps everything bright and alive. It is the cocktail equivalent of a cashmere sweater: unexpectedly cozy, quietly luxurious, and just a little bit unusual.

The Windy City Mule

Every spirit deserves its Moscow Mule moment, and malort’s spicy, gingery version is a revelation for those who find the original a little too sweet.

Ingredients:

1 oz Jeppson’s Malört
1 oz vodka
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
4 oz premium ginger beer (a spicier brand like Fever-Tree or Q works best)
Fresh lime wedge and candied ginger for garnish

Instructions:

Fill a copper mule mug with crushed ice.
Add malört, vodka, and fresh lime juice directly into the mug.
Stir gently once or twice to combine.
Top with ginger beer, pouring slowly to preserve the bubbles.
Garnish with a lime wedge on the rim and a piece of candied ginger on a cocktail pick.

Fizzing and frosty in its copper vessel, the Windy City Mule has the visual charm of the classic mule with a personality all its own. Ginger and wormwood share a botanical kinship, and together they create a long, warming finish that makes this cocktail feel somehow restorative. The vodka smooths the bridge between the two, and the lime keeps it bright and refreshing. Perfect for a girls’ night in or a casual backyard gathering.

The Chicago Jungle Bird

A riff on the beloved tiki classic, this version swaps Campari for malort, which takes on the bitter liqueur role with considerable swagger. The result is tropical, complex, and surprisingly drinkable.

Ingredients:

1.5 oz dark rum (a blackstrap rum like Cruzan Black Strap adds extra depth)
0.75 oz Jeppson’s Malört
1.5 oz fresh pineapple juice
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz rich demerara simple syrup (2:1 sugar to water ratio)
Pineapple fronds and a cocktail umbrella for garnish

Instructions:

Combine rum, malört, pineapple juice, lime juice, and demerara syrup in a cocktail shaker.
Add ice and shake vigorously for 12 to 15 seconds.
Strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass or a tiki mug.
Garnish lavishly with pineapple fronds and a cocktail umbrella because this is tiki and restraint is optional.

This drink arrives in a frothy, deep amber pour that smells of tropical adventure and smells nothing like what you expect from malort. The pineapple and rum perform a heroic act of diplomacy, drawing out malort’s herbal complexity while tempering its sharper edges. What remains is a lush, bittersweet tiki experience with a finish that lingers in the most pleasant way possible. Serve this at your next summer gathering and watch the conversation start.

The Elderflower Malört Sour

Delicate St. Germain elderflower liqueur meeting the ferocity of malort sounds like a diplomatic incident waiting to happen, but the result is surprisingly harmonious and bracingly beautiful.

Ingredients:

0.75 oz Jeppson’s Malört
0.75 oz gin (Beefeater or another London Dry style)
0.75 oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur
0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
0.25 oz simple syrup
Grapefruit peel for garnish

Instructions:

Combine malört, gin, St. Germain, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake vigorously for 12 to 15 seconds.
Fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupe.
Express a grapefruit peel over the surface by squeezing it skin-side down to release citrus oils, then discard the peel.

The drink arrives clear and pale gold, its surface shimmering with those grapefruit oils catching the light. St. Germain’s floral sweetness meets malort’s bitter grapefruit character in a genuinely elegant exchange, and the gin ties everything together with botanical authority. This is a cocktail for spring afternoons and outdoor dinner parties, refined enough to feel special without being fussy or precious about it.

The Malört Spritz

As the Aperol Spritz conquered the world’s rooftop bars and sunset decks, malort enthusiasts in Chicago created their own answer. The Malört Spritz is lighter, more bitter, and frankly more interesting.

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Jeppson’s Malört
3 oz dry prosecco or sparkling wine
1.5 oz grapefruit sparkling water
0.25 oz fresh lemon juice
Grapefruit slice and fresh thyme sprig for garnish
Large ice cube or several smaller cubes

Instructions:

Fill a large wine glass with ice.
Add malört and fresh lemon juice directly to the glass.
Pour in the prosecco gently, tilting the glass to preserve the bubbles.
Top with grapefruit sparkling water.
Give one very gentle stir with a bar spoon.
Garnish with a grapefruit slice tucked into the glass and a sprig of fresh thyme across the rim.

Pale and effervescent with a blush of citrus, this is the kind of cocktail that photographs beautifully and drinks even better. The prosecco lifts malort’s earthiness into something bright and celebratory, while the fresh thyme adds an aromatic herbaceous note that complements the wormwood’s botanical profile. Serve this at your next brunch and prepare to be asked for the recipe repeatedly.

The Malört Dark and Stormy

The Dark and Stormy is a study in contrasts: dark rum and spicy ginger beer, sweet and sharp. Introducing malort adds a third layer of bitter complexity that transforms this classic into something genuinely new.

Ingredients:

1 oz Jeppson’s Malört
1 oz dark rum (Gosling’s Black Seal is traditional)
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
4 oz premium ginger beer
Lime wheel and crystallized ginger for garnish

Instructions:

Fill a highball glass with large ice cubes.
Add malört, dark rum, and fresh lime juice to the glass.
Stir gently to combine.
Pour ginger beer slowly over the back of a bar spoon to create a layered effect, with the dark rum floating on top.
Garnish with a lime wheel on the rim and a piece of crystallized ginger on a cocktail pick resting across the glass.

The layered presentation is dramatic and gorgeous: dark rum floating above the pale ginger beer, a lime wheel catching the light. Stirring it together releases the aromas all at once, ginger, lime, molasses, and malort’s green herbaceous note weaving together like an unexpected chord. The result is warming, complex, and the kind of cocktail that makes you pause mid-sip to appreciate what just happened.

The Malört Margarita

Every great spirit deserves a margarita moment. Malort’s grapefruit and herbal qualities make it a natural partner for tequila’s agave character, and this recipe leans into that pairing with confidence.

Ingredients:

1.5 oz blanco tequila
0.5 oz Jeppson’s Malört
0.75 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz fresh orange juice
0.5 oz agave nectar
Coarse salt for the rim
Lime wheel and fresh jalapeño slice for garnish (optional but excellent)

Instructions:

Prepare the rim by rubbing a lime wedge around the edge of a rocks glass, then pressing it into coarse salt.
Fill the glass with fresh ice.
Combine tequila, malört, lime juice, orange juice, and agave nectar in a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake vigorously for 12 seconds.
Strain over the salted, ice-filled glass.
Garnish with a lime wheel and a thin jalapeño slice for those who enjoy heat alongside their bitter.

Golden and salted, this margarita wears its malort influence with sophisticated ease. The agave in both the tequila and the nectar acts as a gentle sweetener that rounds malort’s sharp wormwood edges, while the orange juice adds a sunny brightness. The jalapeño garnish, if you use it, creates a slow-building heat that pairs brilliantly with the lingering bitter finish. This is a cocktail with a personality: strong, confident, and not remotely interested in being ordinary.

The Malört Old Fashioned

The Old Fashioned is the gold standard of stirred whiskey cocktails, a drink built on simplicity and quality ingredients. Adding malort as a bitter modifier instead of the traditional Angostura bitters gives it a distinctly herbal, wormwood-forward character that is unexpectedly compelling.

Ingredients:

2 oz rye whiskey (or bourbon if you prefer a sweeter base)
0.25 oz Jeppson’s Malört (used as the bittering agent)
0.25 oz rich demerara syrup (2:1 ratio)
2 dashes of orange bitters
Large clear ice cube
Orange peel for garnish

Instructions:

Add rye whiskey, malört, demerara syrup, and orange bitters to a mixing glass.
Fill with ice and stir slowly and deliberately for 30 to 40 seconds.
Place one large clear ice cube into a rocks glass.
Strain the cocktail over the ice.
Express a wide orange peel over the surface to release the citrus oils, then run the peel around the rim of the glass before placing it inside the drink.

Deep amber and whiskey-gorgeous, this Old Fashioned variation looks exactly as it should: serious, classic, composed. But the first sip reveals the secret. Malort’s herbal bitterness blooms where you would normally find Angostura’s spiced warmth, and the effect is beautiful in its strangeness. The rye’s peppery backbone holds the malort in check, while the demerara syrup weaves a thread of caramel through the whole experience. This is a contemplative cocktail, best enjoyed slowly with good music playing in the background.

The Wormwood Whisper

An original creation built to showcase malort’s gentler side, the Wormwood Whisper pairs the spirit’s herbaceous character with honey, chamomile, and a touch of lemon in a cocktail that is quietly elegant and deeply satisfying.

Ingredients:

1 oz Jeppson’s Malört
1 oz gin
0.75 oz chamomile-infused honey syrup (steep chamomile tea in warm honey diluted with equal parts water, then cool)
0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
1 egg white (or 0.5 oz aquafaba for a vegan alternative)
Dried chamomile flowers for garnish

Instructions:

Combine malört, gin, chamomile honey syrup, lemon juice, and egg white in a cocktail shaker.
Dry shake (without ice) vigorously for 15 seconds to emulsify the egg white.
Add ice and shake again hard for 12 to 15 seconds.
Fine strain into a chilled coupe glass.
Allow the foam to settle and rise before garnishing with a few dried chamomile flowers placed delicately on the foam.

Creamy white foam crowns this pale gold cocktail like a cloud settling over the glass. The chamomile in the syrup finds a kindred herbal note in the malort, and together they create a soothing, almost meadow-like quality that you would not expect from either ingredient alone. The gin adds structure, and the lemon keeps it alive and bright. This is the kind of cocktail that makes people stop mid-conversation to look at what they are drinking and wonder, in the best possible way, how something so beautiful came from something so famously ferocious.

The Malört Espresso Martini

The espresso martini is having its long-overdue cultural moment, and malort’s herbal bitterness makes it a natural addition to coffee’s own bold, bitter profile. This version is for those who want their after-dinner cocktail to have both caffeine and conviction.

Ingredients:

1.5 oz vodka
0.5 oz Jeppson’s Malört
1 oz freshly pulled espresso (or very strong cold brew concentrate), chilled
0.5 oz coffee liqueur (Kahlúa or Mr. Black)
0.25 oz simple syrup (optional, depending on your sweet preference)
Three coffee beans for garnish

Instructions:

Pull your espresso shot and allow it to cool completely, or use cold brew concentrate.
Combine vodka, malört, chilled espresso, coffee liqueur, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker.
Add ice and shake very vigorously for 15 to 20 seconds. The harder you shake, the better the foam.
Double strain into a chilled coupe glass, pouring slowly to encourage the foam to build on top.
Place three coffee beans in the center of the foam as garnish.

Dark, glossy, and crowned with a rich espresso foam, the Malört Espresso Martini is visually dramatic and tastes exactly like it looks. The bitter depth of the coffee and the herbal bitterness of the malort find common ground in a cocktail that is simultaneously energizing and deeply indulgent. It is the cocktail equivalent of wearing your favorite black dress to an unexpected party: effortlessly cool, unapologetically yourself. Serve this as the finale to a dinner party and it will be the most talked-about moment of the evening.

Conclusion

Malort cocktails occupy a genuinely unique space in the world of craft drinks. They ask something of you. They require a willingness to sit with bitterness, to find pleasure in an ingredient that does not sugarcoat itself, and to discover that the most interesting flavors often come from the most unexpected places.

What began as a Swedish immigrant’s medicinal tonic in 1920s Chicago, sold door-to-door to survive Prohibition, has become one of America’s most fascinating cult spirits. The numbers speak to something real: from 0.4 million shots in 2007 to 7.9 million in 2022, malort is not merely surviving but genuinely thriving, because people who give it a fair chance keep coming back.

The cocktails in this list are your invitation to do the same. Whether you start with the approachable brightness of the Palomalört, let the Elderflower Malört Sour win you over with its unexpected delicacy, or go all in with the brooding Malört Old Fashioned, there is a malort cocktail here for every mood, every occasion, and every level of adventurousness.

The bitter spirit of Chicago is waiting. All you have to do is pick up the glass.

Sources: https://chesbrewco.com
Category: Cocktails

15 Malort Cocktails That Will Boldly Redefine Your Cocktail Game Updated 05/2026

What Is Malort And Why Is Everyone Obsessed With It?