You Can Soon Enjoy Malört Hot Sauce... If You Dare

By Stephen Gossett in Food on Dec 1, 2016 5:20PM



Courtesy of Soothsayer Hot Sauce

There’s nothing better than a good Malört face—that hilarious, grotesque contortion that is often the result of imbibing Chicago’s legendarily so-bad-it’s-good wormwood liqueur. Soon, locals will have the opportunity to sample a spicy twist on the face-scrunchingly powerful flavor. Meet Malört Face: a new hot sauce made with Jeppson's Malört, courtesy of local hot-stuff purveyors Soothsayer Hot Sauce.

But the intent isn’t to have the flavor assault the palate, Kyle Janis, founder of Soothsayer, said. “We worked very hard to make sure it ‘s a palatable sauce,” Janis told Chicagoist. Janis said he’s a true-blue lover of the notorious liqueur, but had plenty of non-fans sample his hot-sauce creation to make sure his own taste doesn’t skew it. ”The grapefruit flavor (of the liqueur) pairs well with the ghost peppers and help to cover one another.”

Don’t worry though. If the idea of an agreeable Malört-flavored hot sauce sounds like heresy, Janis says it will still have plenty bite.

“You will taste the bitterness,” he said. “We made sure to keep it there.”

Soothsayer debuts their new concoction at Cole’s Bar on Dec. 17, at a performance by local math-rock band Space Blood. (Soothsayer has partnered with other bands in the past for hot-sauce collaborations, including Less Than Jake and Direct Hit.) They’ll only have about 50 bottles for the initial unveiling, and Janis expects them to sell through. But Soothsayer will likely soon be officially collaborating with Malört to do a larger scale run in 2017.

“We’ve already had request for shipping in a dozen different states,” said Janis, a Chicago native who said he's been drinking Malört regularly ever since the law allowed.

Like a lot of Chicagoans, the love affair began as a rite of passage to be shared with visitors from out of town, but it became a permanent staple in his life. "As soon as we’d walk (into the neighborhood liquor store) they;d tell us if it was in stock."

Janis says the best way to get your hands on the sauce—if you can't grab some at the Cole's show—is to follow Soothsayer's social media accounts and keep an eye out for the run coming in 2017. And get ready to pucker up.