Bionade

Bionade is a German range of organic, fermented and carbonated soft drinks, made in Ostheim vor der Rhön in Bavaria. It was marketed as a lower-sugar alternative to conventional sodas and became a symbol of the health-conscious trend in Germany in the 2000s.

History

The drink was created at the Privatbrauerei Peter brewery in Ostheim, a town of about 4,000 people in northern Bavaria. Its inventor, Dieter Leipold, was the brewery's master brewer and a relation by marriage of the owning family, and he was trying to rescue a company facing bankruptcy. He aimed to produce a non-alcoholic drink under the same purity principles as German beer, with only malt, water, sugar and fruit essences, and no corn syrup or artificial additives.

According to accounts, Leipold spent eight years experimenting in a makeshift bathroom laboratory and isolated a bacterial strain that converts sugar into gluconic acid instead of alcohol, which he used for fermentation. Sales began in 1995, first in health resorts and gyms. A decisive change came in 1999, when marketing expert Wolfgang Blum gave the brand a retro logo and a clear bottle modelled on the long-necked beer format, aimed at bars and nightclubs. Sponsorships and campaigns followed, and by 2006 the drink was sold in Switzerland, Austria and the Benelux countries, with exports spreading across Europe.

Culture

Bionade became associated with an urban, young, middle-class audience with ecological interests. German media coined the term Bionade-Biedermeier in 2007 to describe the lifestyle of Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district. That year its slogan, "The official beverage of a better world", appeared during protests against the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, which fed the stereotype that anti-globalisation activists always drank it.

The range includes elderberry, lychee, orange-ginger, quince and herb flavours, and it is presented as a soft drink with a beer-like look and less sugar than many rivals. Today it is sold in many European countries and, since 2007, in the United States. Since 2018 it has belonged to the Hassia Group.