Green Mill Loves Malort And Has The Letter To Prove It

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 26, 2012 3:40PM

We’ve lost brain cells, liver function and maybe some life expectancy draining bottles of Jeppson’s Malort at Green Mill. It’s our favorite drink at the legendary Uptown jazz bar, next to a perfectly chilled martini and a longneck bottle of beer.

Green Mill loves to pour Malort and that love was reciprocated in a May letter addressed to Green Mill owner Dave Jemilo from Patricia Gabelick, president of the Carl Jeppson Company, which produces and distributes the spirit most associated with (and consumed in) Chicago.

“Through our distributors and other industry partners we’ve heard that you and the staff at the Green Mill don’t just sell Malort, but pour it with a passion for Jeppson’s Malort fans new and old,” Gabelick wrote.

How passionate is Green Mill for Malort? Jemilo compared the amount of Malort Green Mill orders to sales figures and estimated they sell 1/20th of the Malort sold worldwide. Hopefully Jemilo had access to updated sales figures. RedEye’s feature profile on Jeppson’s Malort a couple weeks back had case sales at 1,100 cases in 2009. (Gabelick wouldn’t give RedEye current sales numbers.)

Based on 2009 sales numbers, that would mean Green Mill buys 220 55 cases of Malort a year. That’s a lot of Malort face.