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Gotling didn’t actually mass produce the spicy mulled holiday wine in the back of the bar anymore, though he batched some up for insiders. Years ago, “Hans was giving away free samples on folding tables out in front of Wikstrom’s delicatessen,” says Roper. “And then if people liked it they could go in and buy some. Except Wikstrom’s doesn’t have a liquor license.” The city cracked down a few years ago, so Gotling sold the recipe to a Minnesota distillery that bottled it, put his name and picture on it, and sold it legit through liquor stores. But Gotling wasn’t in it for the money. The Sun-Times published his recipe last year and he gave it to whoever asked. “In the old days he had a mimeograph machine and he would give people copies on how to make it themselves,” says Roper. “He gave away lot of bottles. He was the precinct captain so it was kind of a political thing. That’s also why he never got busted. He would always take a couple cases over to the precinct for the police officers and he’d take some to the fire station.”
Of course that doesn’t mean the end of glogg in Andersonville. Scott Martin of Simon’s Tavern continues to make it every year.
