The Malort I tried at the picnic had the most bizarre dichotomy between aroma and taste. Its sweet, subtle, almost flowery nose gave way to a single note of bitter disgustingness on the palate. I'd have to be convinced that Malort had miraculous healing powers or wonderful psychedelic effects if I were to ever try it again by itself. I could potentially see a few drops of it adding balance to something especially sweet and/or acidic. Someone (Wendy?) mentioned grapefruit juice, which sounds plausible.

I tried the Malort at the picnic Saturday for the first time. I wouldn't go quite so far as to say that I liked it, but I wouldn't say I disliked it either. The thing that surprised me the most was the initial flavor was mild, herbal and sweet with a strong bitterness and astringency in the background, but the herbal/sweet flavors dissipated pretty quickly to leave a bitter and astringent finish that stuck around for quite a while. I'd be hard pressed to think of anything else I've had with a finish that long or that one-note.

For everyone saying they hated it, did you try a second sip? When I had the second (and third and fourth) sips, the flavor really opened up. The initial flavor layered on top the finish from the last sip beautifully. And that second sip was somehow both milder and sweeter than the initial one, even with the lingering bitterness already present. Then of course the one-note bitter finish just kept lingering and lingering. If the finish was a bit shorter or a bit milder, I think it would be great.

But on a rather large tangent...this also reminds me of a few articles I've read recently talking about the science of taste. Specifically that not all people actually taste the same flavors the same way, and some people either can't taste certain flavors at all, or require much higher levels of the flavor to be present before they can detect it. I wonder if something like that could be at work here? The main reason I think that is the only part of the Malort I found at all objectionable was the finish, but I definitely saw several people making horrible faces immediately, before the finish could even kick in.

I'll agree with kennyz about the aroma, and intense bitterness of the first sip. But then something surprising happened. For me at least, with each subsequent sip, the bitterness declined, to the point where, by the fourth sip, it was still bitter, but interestingly, almost pleasantly so.

So, apparently, Malort is the one sip to have when you're having more than one.

Apologies to Schaefer Beer.

Count me in as one who thinks Malört is kind of good--not really for casual, everyday drinking--but for a post-prandial sipper. I concur with Bridgestone it's especially effective after a big doughy, starchy, meaty dinner. I was actually looking forward to a small glass after the picnic--but it had been polished off by mid-afternoon. I'm not sure why, but that really made my day.

I think it tastes like a distant cousin to Campari, which I enjoy, but would never drink neat. I don't think a Malört cocktail is that far-fetched--and one that I would happily try, especially if it made it through the vetting process at the Violet Hour.

::

One of the bartenders at the Green Mill told me that Malört, in addition to being delicious, is also a miracle hangover cure. Apparently after one of those mythical teenaged drinking binges (commonly fueled by Peach Schnapps, Boone's Farm or Jagermeister), she woke up reeling on the bathroom floor, swearing off alcohol for life between heaves. Her mother brought her a bottle of Malört and a shot glass and told her to start drinking. Sadistic as that sounds, she claims that after the first shot--she immediately started to feel better, and after the bottle was kicked, she not only felt brand new, but she'd made a lifelong friend.

Viva Malört!

Count me in on the "I Drink Malorts" club of afficionados. What I've found is that if you have a Malorts rookie with you, bartenders are more than happy to pour a couple free shots just to see the look on the face of the firsttimers.

If Mr. Maloney needs guinea pigs for his Malorts cocktail, sign me up.

trixie-pea wrote:One of the bartenders at the Green Mill told me that Malört, in addition to being delicious, is also a miracle hangover cure.

If I'd known that Sunday morning, the remaining 250 mL may not have made it home with me.

At 70 proof Malort is much stronger, in more ways than one, than Cynar and Campari. Aperitifs are typically in the vermouth range of 15-20%(30-40 proof). More alcoholic than that and a European would say you are dulling not whetting the appetite. Cynar not only is the right strength, but also has the aura of artichokes to prime the tongue.

Campari is slightly stronger and normally mixed or cut with ice and water or soda. The bitterness is also supposed to set up the taste buds.

Malort is a bitter variation on schnapps at 70 proof, although not nearly as strong as some. It very well may be just something you drink to maintain your buzz. In taste I find it closer to Jager and Underberg than anything else. Italian amari are similar but sippable. I think Malort is meant to be downed, most likely between multiple draft beers.

I had a friend in Freiberg Germany who always wanted to drink once we returned back to his hotel (he owned it) and it was always schnapps and beers. Malort would have fit in fine.

Finally it doesn't taste nearly as bad as reported here, particularly after a meal and a few drinks. I drink it at room temperature, after a meal, after an espresso, a quickly chugged shot. The wormwood is an added bonus, although totally illusionary, like the hallucinatory effects of meszcal or nutmeg.

MLS wrote:... The wormwood is an added bonus, although totally illusionary, like the hallucinatory effects of meszcal or nutmeg.

Great post, MLS. One that agree to 95% of.

However, I can't help but cringe when I read (and interpret as I'm not totally sure that I understand what you wrote) the above statement. Lest Chicagoland teenagers begin slamming malort/malört-flavored/wormwood-flavored snaps in search of the next dimension, this stuff isn't going to make anyone hallucinate more than Absolut, Gordon's gin or even liberal application of the fabled new/old Schlitz.

While I've never tried Malort, I've had plenty of homemade and store-bought infusions of Malört/Wormwood (heck, I've even pried a bottle from my own child's infant fingers to give to a prominent Chicago food reporter) but I've yet to notice any other-than-alcohol-related effects of the stuff.

I sort of think that you were in agreement with this but your comparison to nutmeg threw me a loop. Nutmeg, well, let's just say that I'm back to the drawing board on that one...

Any hallucinogenic effect of Malort is illusionary, not real.

I do actually think though that nutmeg is mildly hallucinogenic and put lots of it on my Planter's Punch. It could be the 4 types of rum I use too.

I did not mention that I do like Malort as a digestif.

MLS wrote:Any hallucinogenic effect of Malort is illusionary, not real.

I think the confusion here may be "illusory" v. "illusionary."

I am a HUGE fan of Malort. So much as to risk incurring the wrath of the ATF and smuggle a bottle back to NYC so some of my friends here could try it. It Has blowing minds and scorching palates left and right. We had a bitter off between Malort and Unicum the other night after dinner. We decided they were both wonderful, but so different we couldn't compare them.

I agree that it could be great in a cocktail, and if ever there was a liquid made for an eyedropper, this is it. I will talk to my guys and get a couple of bottles in to mess around with. I can see a Chicago Negroni thing coming to fruition, NOT in equal parts!!!

I just looked at the back of the bottle and it says, “It’s bitter taste is savored by two-fisted drinkers.” Which makes me remember drinking it in seedy bars south of Division, lit by florescent bulbs and talking to folk with no teeth, washing it down with cheap, cold beer. Malort, as onomatopoetic a name as I have ever come across.

Toby

Alchemist wrote: We had a bitter off between Malort and Unicum the other night after dinner. We decided they were both wonderful, but so different we couldn't compare them.

Oh, I love Unicum. You're right, they are very different--Malort's just pure wormwood, whereas Unicum is a blend of dozens of different herbs, although I've been beginning to think there is wormwood in the Unicum blend, as well. It seems to have a similar bitter taste at the very end. For me, Unicum is the much more interesting and finely crafted drink (and less bitter than Malort), but they're both nice and both do well to settle the stomach after a heavy dinner.

Alchemist- described perfectly.... I had my first, last and only shot of Malort at Rite Liquors.

nicinchic wrote:I had my first, last and only shot of Malort at Rite Liquors.

Rite Liquors seems like the perfect place to have your first, last and only shot of Malort.

If you're in the mood for something more downscale than Rite, try Rothschild Liquor Mart, in Noble Square/West Town/East Village. Here's what one yelper said:

Yelper wrote:From its exterior one would assume a hooch emporium of staggering proportions, long-forgotten bottles of slowly fermenting elixirs lining the dusty shelves like forgotten tomes in an Alexandrian library.

What you actually get is more like a sketchy 7-11-ish booze depot with 48 foot ceilings.
The 'top shelf' liquors don't go much above what they would in any off-brand old man tap room and the beer selection is ...
shabby, I guess. Rather shabby.

Fighting your way through six panhandlers, two chicks dressed like Hooters waitresses, a shank-wielding addict and two pretty bored looking hipster girls to get in the door is kind of fun, but if you were expecting anything better than Blue Moon (not that there's anything wrong with Blue Moon. It's delicious) then you're going to have to fight your way back out, only this time it'll be through the sad, downtrodden middle-aged folks playing the Lotto.

That's putting it mildly. I understand that the tap room is closed now, but you'd never know from the drunk patrons loitering outside.

Rothschild Liquor Mart
1532 W. Chicago
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 421-1562

My God how can such a place exist? Shabbier than Rite, thought to be impossible until I read that description.

And thanks Aschie30 for having the decorum to not ask what the heck I was doing in that place.

I believe you mean Cut Rite liquors. Which one the scary one next to the Post office on the south side of the street or the skeevy on across the street that opens at 6am? Both are such wonderful establishments.

I just did a 1 hour presentation on bitters for the Star Chefs conference and one of the potable bitters I had everyone try was Malort. One guy fled the the room like a pregnant teen with morning sickness, a hand over his mouth, bent at the waist at 45 degrees. Oh, we laughed, and laughed. He came back about three minutes later.

It was the one next to the post office for me.

nicinchic wrote:And thanks Aschie30 for having the decorum to not ask what the heck I was doing in that place.

You're welcome. Right back 'atcha.

I know from visiting family in France that they treat Campari and similar bitters as well as anisettes as pre-meal aperitifs, with cognac, whiskeys and fortified wines as digestifs.

Matt, your family in France will disown you! No self-respecting Frenchman would ever have anisette as a pre-meal aperitif. You are probably confusing pastis, the beloved anise flavored libation (which is not sweet) from southern France usually sold by Pernod and Ricard with the sweet anisette more often had in Italy with espresso. You are lucky you are not Greek-you might have a contract on you if you called ouzo anisette!

Pastis is consumed with its specific ritual virtually anytime, but particularly as an aperitif, but never immediately after a meal. Added to your list of after dinner drinks in France could be armangnac, eaux-de-vie, whisky, and sweet liqueurs like Chartreuse or Chambord (or anisette). And I love the idea that bourbon is always on the after dinner drink card now too. At one time absinthe would have been available (maybe it is now again);malort would have fit in nicely then too.

The French have quite a few bitter aperitifs such as Suze, but I can't think of a French equivalent to Italian amari, a bitters used as a digestif. Are there any? Many?

MLS wrote:

I know from visiting family in France that they treat Campari and similar bitters as well as anisettes as pre-meal aperitifs, with cognac, whiskeys and fortified wines as digestifs.

Matt, your family in France will disown you! No self-respecting Frenchman would ever have anisette as a pre-meal aperitif. You are probably confusing pastis, the beloved anise flavored libation (which is not sweet) from southern France usually sold by Pernod and Ricard with the sweet anisette more often had in Italy with espresso. You are lucky you are not Greek-you might have a contract on you if you called ouzo anisette!

My goodness, I assumed you were referring to a different Matt (just because of the time lapsed sense I posted that, not because I didn't think I could be wrong), but went back and read that. Yes, I was really referring to pastis. I didn't know until just looking into it now that pastis is made using star anise, not aniseed (as are anisettes). You learn something new everyday. I do suspect that my family in France, being the mongrel Provencal-Americans that they are, will allow me to live it down.

I tried The Fox Hunt this weekend with a "monte au booze" of Malort instead of Cynar. Certainly not an improvement on the original, but a decent way to get a little Malort in your diet.

It really speaks to the power of Malort that a wash of the glass ups the bitterness and length of the finish of this drink considerably. It puts it a bit off-balance, but it is still quite tolerable, and really a decent way to enjoy some preprandial bitters. Not the Malort cocktail I'm looking for, but baby steps, man, baby steps.

I've been thinking that I'd like to try Malort as a cooking ingredient, but I haven't hit on the right food yet.

LAZ wrote:I've been thinking that I'd like to try Malort as a cooking ingredient, but I haven't hit on the right food yet.

If this is serious, you sure are adventuresome, and I'd be curious to hear what ideas you've had. I cannot imagine anything that the taste of wormwood would compliment. Maybe you could pair a few drops of it with something sweet, for that bitter-sweet combination, but it's such a hard and aggressive flavor it seems to overwhelm all else.

Alchemist wrote:...We had a bitter off between Malort and Unicum the other night after dinner. We decided they were both wonderful, but so different we couldn't compare them.

I agree that it could be great in a cocktail, and if ever there was a liquid made for an eyedropper, this is it. I will talk to my guys and get a couple of bottles in to mess around with. I can see a Chicago Negroni thing coming to fruition, NOT in equal parts!!!....

Toby

I can't speak to using Malort in a cocktail but I've used Unicum successfully. If one can take credit for a variation on the Old-Fashioned then this is my creation:

The Magyar Old-Fashioned
2.5 oz brandy
.25 oz simple syrup (2:1)
.25 oz Unicum (or to taste)

Build in a rocks glass with ice or stir with ice and strain into rocks glass over fresh ice. Lemon twist. Avoid fridge-made ice if at all possible. Nice big cubes are the way to go.

This cocktail was inspired by David Embury. He wrote that brandy and Unicum go well together and this seemed a logical place to start experimenting. The drink works reasonably well with a brandy as modest as E&J VSOP or a cheaper cognac like Chalfonte but with a decent cognac like the Pierre Ferrand Ambre it's pretty damned amazing.

FYI--Embury's book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks has just been re-released.

Kurt

Man, I just got fooled today. I go into the liquor store and spot that familiar round bottle of Hungarian bitters, Unicum. I take it home, pour myself a shot, drink it down and think "What in the hell is this? Is this Unicum Next? (a sweeter, more orange-flavored version of Unicum that's sold in Hungary.)" I take another sip, look at the color, "This can't be regular Unicum. This certainly isn't dark enough, nor bitter enough." I do a little bit of research, double check the label, and find out that it's a rebranded version of Unicum Next (or possibly just a sweeter version of Unicum that's made for US markets--my online sources disagree, but my tastebuds say pretty confidentaly that it's Unicum Next) that's sold in the familiar Unicum bottle, but instead of saying Unicum on it, it simply says "Zwack." Now, Zwack is a Hungarian liquor producer, of which Unicum is one of its products, and Hungarian bottles feature both the names Unicum and Zwack on them, and look like this. The rebranded Unicum Next (or whatever it is exactly), which is sold as "Zwack" here in the States, looks like this.

Beware the ersatz Unicum!

Replenishing my supply of Malort, I stopped at the Binny's on 59 north of Plainfield Saturday. Malort may have been the only bottle in the store without a price sticker or shelf talker. Scanning $15.99 seemed fine, added some discounted vermouth, including 1.5L dry Gancia @$3.99(no sweet though) and Boissiere dry which will no longer be carried @ Binny's at $5.99, and some St. James Tres Vieu Rum Agricole (also discontinued) @$24.99. Add some 1.5L Stock sweet vermouth @6.99?-I was very pleased with my eclectic cart.

Yesterday though I was at Woodmans in North Aurora looking for some New Glarus Staghorn. No more New Glarus at Woodmans! But Malort was $13.29! Stock $5.99. Prices seemed lower than Binny's on all items that they both carry.

Woodmans has an interesting selection, not nearly as broad as Binny's or Sam's, but with some unique niches-like bitters. I now have a new low cost provider!

Toby,

As a Malort drinker and fan of TVH and you, I surely hope that you and your proteges can come up with a Malort cocktail.

I have tried. And failed.

Binko wrote:Man, I just got fooled today....instead of saying Unicum on it, it simply says "Zwack." Now, Zwack is a Hungarian liquor producer, of which Unicum is one of its products, and Hungarian bottles feature both the names Unicum and Zwack on them, and look like this. The rebranded Unicum Next (or whatever it is exactly), which is sold as "Zwack" here in the States, looks like this.

Beware the ersatz Unicum!

I've been itching to give Malorts a taste, so I was reading through this thread to try and get pumped up for the big day (whenever it might be)...imagine my surprise when I saw Zwack mentioned!

A friend & I stumbled onto Zwack at Raven's (2326 N. Clark)...we were intrigued by the uniquely-shaped bottle, and more so by the bartender's glowing review ("Dude, it's basically Hungarian Jäger...seriously, it's awesome, try it on the house!"). It was somewhat Jägerish, but less syrupy and with a sourness behind the anise flavor. After 3 more Zwack shots each, the night becomes a bit of a blur...the next morning, I woke up feeling like I was the guest of honor in some sort of a gang initiation (you know, the ones that involve being severely beaten). My friend called me in the afternoon (he'd just woken up) to see if I could help him piece the previous night together, and sounded so hoarse he could've easily passed for a post-op tonsillectomy patient.

I suppose the 6-7 Captain and Cokes we each drank to wash the Zwacky taste out of our mouths might've had something to do with the after-effects. But Zwack makes a great scapegoat.

The best we could come up with after the fact is that Zwack sorta tastes like a blend of Jägermeister and ouzo with a squeeze of lemon.

Khaopaat wrote:The best we could come up with after the fact is that Zwack sorta tastes like a blend of Jägermeister and ouzo with a squeeze of lemon.

I'm trying to find a source in Chicago for real Unicum, not this overly sweet and citrussy Zwack stuff. If anyone has seen it, please let me know. I used to be able to find it at a local liquor store years ago, but now my only source is Hungary and my mom's liquor cabinet (I always bring back several bottles from my trips to Budapest and keep them at the folks' for safe-keeping.) This past Christmas Eve, we did a side-by-side comparison at my folk's place, and we all agreed that the Zwack liquor was vastly inferior. That said, Unicum is a very acquired taste, and would probably be a much more difficult sell in the American market. I believe Zwack liquor was introduced into the American market around 2004, and Unicum Next (which is what Zwack is modeled after, probably just rebranded) came out in the early 2000s in Hungary. It was aimed at a younger demographic, for whom Unicum was too bitter and medicine-y.

Binko wrote:

Khaopaat wrote:The best we could come up with after the fact is that Zwack sorta tastes like a blend of Jägermeister and ouzo with a squeeze of lemon.

I'm trying to find a source in Chicago for real Unicum, not this overly sweet and citrussy Zwack stuff. If anyone has seen it, please let me know. I used to be able to find it at a local liquor store years ago, but now my only source is Hungary and my mom's liquor cabinet (I always bring back several bottles from my trips to Budapest and keep them at the folks' for safe-keeping.) This past Christmas Eve, we did a side-by-side comparison at my folk's place, and we all agreed that the Zwack liquor was vastly inferior. That said, Unicum is a very acquired taste, and would probably be a much more difficult sell in the American market. I believe Zwack liquor was introduced into the American market around 2004, and Unicum Next (which is what Zwack is modeled after, probably just rebranded) came out in the early 2000s in Hungary. It was aimed at a younger demographic, for whom Unicum was too bitter and medicine-y.

Unicum is no longer imported into the USA. I blame a culture that raises it's children on Ding-Dongs and Coke. The average american cannot get thier buds around Malort, Campari, Unicum.

So keep bringing the Unicum in, it's the only way to have it here.

Toby