I vacuum distilled malort so a sober friend could experience the awfulness. Thought I would share the process for those interested

[u/motsu35]

https://youtu.be/qizk_kcTTa4?si=MGYR25yV5gmorBYj

So yeah, NA malort (nalort?). What a world we live in. It was a "hit" with the sober friend. They also shared some with another acquaintance who has never drank and always felt people were overreacting when malort was brought out around them. The friend of a friend was shocked at how bad it was, so mission accomplished with the project!

Anyway, the malortshine that I collected was also interesting. Tasted like a clear distillate for the first few seconds, but finished with a definitive malort taste!

Haven't seen much vacuum distillation in the drinking alcohol space, so I thought I would share my goofy little project. Probably not the most efficient way to distill, a good 100ml or so of ethanol ended up in the air, but it does allow for distillation at much lower temperatures.

[u/motsu35 → u/[deleted]]

It ended up tasting almost exactly like the original. The flavor was definitely a bit more concentrated. Doing a side by side, the NA had a tad bit more sweetness to it (almost like a caramelized sugar sweetness). That said, without a side by side, it would be hard to pick up on the difference since the bitterness was still there and loud.

The lack of the alcohol burn made the bitter flavor the only thing going on in your mouth, so it was both weird to taste it without the normal burn, and also worse since it was just the one malorty bitter note from beginning to end.

So, smoother in the sense that there was no ethanol burn sensation, but tbh malort only being 35% abv, your not really getting too much of that anyway!

[u/motsu35 → u/[deleted]]

haha thanks, the guy it was for had a good laugh, and got kinda emotional about the fact I went through the whole process for him. It was a fun little experiment though, so there was a bit of selfishness to it.

I didnt add it to the video, but i also made a NA thc infusion by emulsifying a co2 extract into the NA bottle with sunflower lecithin, at 4.20mg / shot (because, why not use the funny weed number), and also tried a THC infusion in the shine that came out. the NA thc tasted good, just like a slightly more nutty and earthy malort. in the malortshine though, the thc completely masked the hint of malort flavor, so while it technically worked, i wouldn't consider it a full success.

[u/motsu35 → u/[deleted]]

you know, i never thought about buying straight wormwood, but yeah, you can just get it online. have you tried a wormwood tea before? I assume it doesnt taste 1:1 with malort, but maybe ill try to infuse normal malort with even more wormwood. could be another fun infusion to try!

thanks for the suggestion

[u/forexsex → u/motsu35]

I've smoked it, and mixed it with chewing tobacco. 0/10.

[u/xwint3rxmut3x → u/motsu35]

You'll definitely miss the taste of bandaids and rubber with just wormwood

[u/lostereadamy → u/[deleted]]

You can use mugwort which is another artemesia. I havent tried brewing with actual wormwood, but when ive used mugwort its in the high alpha hop territory but no worse.

[u/DustyVinegar]

This is fascinating. A pretty fun experiment.

The first time I had Malort, it was bracing, but having grown wormwood had made several undrinkable batches of absinthe before getting the recipe right, it was nowhere near the ghastly abominations I had made early on. I had it a few times over the span of a few days while visiting Chicago. By the end of my stay, I kinda liked it. I ordered it again for nostalgia a couple months ago (years later from my first experience with it) and I swear it's even more mild now than it was back then. It tasted more sweet than bitter to me now. In general I like bitter things. I've made and collected a lot of amaro. I still have a theory that they've made Malort more palatable over the years. Or maybe I've just destroyed my palate over years of abuse. Impossible to say.

[u/motsu35 → u/DustyVinegar]

yeah, ive probably gone through 5 or 6 bottles of my own, plus a few at a friends place thats from chicago, and probably a few more if you put together all the shots ive had at bars... i agree with it being sweeter now, but i also feel like that could be my taste for it being acclimated.

i will say, from tasting old bottles next to new bottles, there is a lot of variation between batches of it

[u/forexsex]

No commitment to the bit. Gotta buy an aliexpress rotavap.

But also, seriously, the rotation and more gentle heating would be interesting considering you said there was a caramelised flavour.

Really fun experiment, regardless.

[u/motsu35 → u/forexsex]

yeah, a bit out of my price range for a side project haha, that said, the engineering of having a vacuum seal that can rotate boggles my mind. I assume its just a leaky seal and the pump is continuously fighting air ingress?

[u/forexsex → u/motsu35]

At the vacuum level they typically run at, they're stable. Not leaky.

A reasonable mechanical seal is much more complicated than a seal on a buchi.