Beloved New York-based ice cream brand Van Leeuwen is making its Chicago debut next week, and to celebrate the opening, it’s bringing a (somewhat controversial) limited-edition flavor with it. As a tribute to the city’s infamous spirit, Van Leeuwen will release a specialty Malört ice cream.
Jeppson’s Malört, which was created in Chicago in the 1920s, is a wormwood-based liqueur known for its divisive flavor profile. Since then, the bitter spirit has primarily existed as a “bartender’s handshake” or a rite of passage shot in Chicago bars. Although it’s achieved a level of mainstream popularity in recent years, that doesn’t mean people have come around to its taste.
