Nearly 2,000 sots down shots of Malört to set world record

A Chicago bar gathered 1,969 people to simultaneously take shots of iconic local liqueur Jeppson’s Malört and set a Guinness World Record in the process.

Recess, a bar located in the West Loop, said the official count from Sunday’s Malört World Record event was 1,969 people simultaneously downing shots of the locally beloved and widely reviled alcoholic beverage.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker was in attendance and, at one point, stepped behind the bar to pour shots for attendees.

The event, which was billed as a “bad decision for a good cause,” raised funds for Ravenswood Community Services.

Jeppson’s Malört, which has been distilled in the Chicago area since the 1930s, is a beskbrännvin, a wormwood-based Swedish schnapps.

Malört is famously a drink purchased by Chicagoans to haze visitors from out of town.

“Drinking Malört is socially acceptable masochism. Having other people drink Malört is socially acceptable sadism. Drinking Malört together is trauma bonding,” record attempt participant Lenya Friesner told UPI.

Another attendee at Sunday’s event described the flavor of the liqueur to Block Club Chicago as “a mixture of vomit and sweat.”

Susana Mendoza, a city comptroller running for mayor of Chicago, was also in attendance at the event and described the appeal of the bitter drink as “the communal suffering [that] brings us together.”

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https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/09/02/Guinness-World-Records-Jeppsons-Malort/9561788278812/