The Latest Frontier in Non-Alcoholic Spirits Is a Zero-Proof Malort

In the city of Chicago, something is taking place that involves two zeitgeist-y beverage trends converging in a wholly unexpected way. One of these trends is the growing popularity of non-alcoholic spirits; the other is the increasing ubiquity of Malört, a spirit inexorably connected with the Windy City. All of which is to say that if you’ve ever wanted to drink a version of Malört without any alcohol, your day has come.

As Block Club Chicago’s Ariel Parrella-Aureli reports, the Chicago bar and restaurant Void has figured out a way to remove alcohol from the proverbial Malört equation. Or, as a post on Void’s own Instagram phrased it, “We’ve successfully removed its only redeeming feature, inconceivable, we know.” Enter: No-Lört.

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Ian Adamczyk, one of Void’s beverage leaders, explained the thinking behind the creation of No-Lört. “[W]e just wanted to make those flavors accessible to anyone crazy enough to want them, regardless of whether or not you’re consuming alcohol,” he told Block Club Chicago. The process took approximately three months, and Void’s cocktail menu also features one recipe incorporating the booze-free spirit. That would be the Chaotic Good, which combines it with cold brew espresso, grapefruit and orgeat syrup.

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Void also sells bottles of No-Lört for $19.00 — though, based on the reaction to their Instagram post, there’s at least some demand across the country for Void to make their new zero-proof spirit available through the mail. It’s unlikely to revolutionize the non-alcoholic spirit world, but it just might make some Chicago residents and expats very, very happy.