![BN 2018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/BN_2018.png)
Bionade
bi.(j)oËnaËdÉis a German range of
non-alcoholic
An alcohol-free or non-alcoholic drink, also known as a temperance drink, is a version of an alcoholic drink made without alcohol, or with the alcohol removed or reduced to almost zero. These may take the form of a non-alcoholic mixed drink (a "vi ...
,
organic
Organic may refer to:
* Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity
* Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ
Chemistry
* Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...
fermented and
carbonated beverages. It is manufactured in the
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n town of
Ostheim vor der Rhön by the ''Peter'' beer brewery. Sales started in 1995 and Bionade is now available in most European countries. Until 2018 Bionade GmbH was a subsidiary of
Radeberger
Radeberger started in 1872 when the brewery was founded as ''Zum Bergkeller'', in Radeberg, a town in the vicinity of Dresden. Radeberger ranks No. 9 among Germany's best selling beers.
History
This beer was also brewed for a period for the K ...
, a group of breweries which is a division of
Dr. Oetker
Dr. Oetker () is a German multinational company that produces baking powder, cake mixes, frozen pizza, pudding, cake decoration, cornflakes, party candles, and various other products.
The company is a wholly owned branch of the Oetker Group, ...
. Now Bionade is part of the Hassia Group.
History
Dieter Leipold was the master brewer at Privatbrauerei Peter in Ostheim, a small town in northern Bavaria, and a relation by marriage of the Kowalsky family, owners of the brewery. Worried about the future of the company, which was facing bankruptcy,
[
] he had the idea of producing a nonalcoholic drink by fermentation, on the same principles and under the same purity laws as German beer: the drink would consist only of the natural ingredients
malt
Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.
Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...
,
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
,
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
, and
fruit essences, and would not contain
corn syrup
Corn syrup is a food syrup which is made from the starch of corn (called maize in many countries) and contains varying amounts of sugars: glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to softe ...
or other artificial additives.
He experimented for eight years in a bathroom laboratory, spending âŹ1.5 million of the brewery owner Peter Kowalsky's money. He isolated a strain of bacteria capable of converting the sugar that normally becomes alcohol into nonalcoholic
gluconic acid
Gluconic acid is an organic compound with molecular formula C6H12O7 and condensed structural formula HOCH2(CHOH)4COOH. It is one of the 16 stereoisomers of 2,3,4,5,6-pentahydroxyhexanoic acid.
In aqueous solution at neutral pH, gluconic acid fo ...
, which he used to ferment the new drink.
[
Bionade went on sale in 1995, at first in ]health resort
A destination spa or health resort is a resort centered on a spa, such as a mineral spa. Historically, many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or mineral springs; in the era before modern biochemical knowledge and p ...
s and fitness centres. It was picked up by Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
's largest beverage distributor, Göttsche, in 1998, but was not reaching a broad public.[
In 1999 Kowalsky hired the marketing expert Wolfgang Blum. Blum devised a new marketing strategy for Bionade. A retro blue, white, and red logo was designed. The bottle was made out of clear glass (instead of brown) but its form was based on a classical vitreous longneck beer format. This eased the logistics of distributing the drink and also helped to sell Bionade in bars and nightclubs, as a non-alcoholic drink that looked like a beer. The product was branded as a new trendy drink. As the company could not afford advertising on television or in the print media, they first placed it in bars and restaurants in Hamburg][ which were frequented by marketers and advertisers. Further viral marketing attempts included sponsoring sporting, cultural and children's events throughout Germany.][
By 2002-03 two million bottles of the drink were sold.][ A wave of health awareness was sweeping Germany: for example, 75% of all Germans approved a ban on smoking in bars.][ Sales reached seven million in 2004, twenty million in 2005, seventy million in 2006,] when 73 million bottles were sold, and by 2007 total sales had reached 200 million.
In 2004, Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
offered to buy the rights to the drink and the Bionade brand, but the producer rejected the offer, citing its plans to expand internationally on its own. By 2006 it was available in Switzerland, Austria and the Benelux countries
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...
,[ and it has since reached Scandinavia, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland.][ In 2007 the company planned expansion into the US.][
In 2007, Bionade started its first advertising campaign, using the slogan "Bionade. Das offizielle GetrÀnk einer besseren Welt" ("Bionade. The official beverage of a better world"). This appealed to some of the protesters against the ]33rd G8 summit
The 33rd G8 summit was held at Kempinski Grand Hotel, 6â8 June 2007. The summit took place in Heiligendamm in the Northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the Baltic Coast. The locations of previous G8 summits to have been hosted by G ...
, which was taking place at the time in Heiligendamm, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, MĂ€kelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name MecklenburgâWestern Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...
, and led to the stereotype that anti-globalisation
The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...
activists always drink the beverage. The campaign encompassed billboards in fifteen German cities and radio commercials.
In 2007 plastic bottles were introduced and Bionade appeared in McDonald's cafés. However, sales declined in 2008 and further declined after an increase in prices, to 60 million bottles in 2011. The Kowalsky family sold part ownership to Schindel-Holding and then to Radeberger, who became sole owners in 2012 until 2018. Since 2018 Bionade is part of the Hassia Group (Hassia Gruppe).
Metaphorical use
In 2007 German journalist Henning SuĂebach coined ''Bionade-Biedermeier'' a German neologism combining Bionade, and the word Biedermeier
The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...
, an era in Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618â1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
between 1815 and 1848. He used it to describe the lifestyle in Berlins Prenzlauer Berg district in an article published by Die Zeit
''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles.
History
The ...
. The term is a German equivalent of e.g. LOHAS and Bobo ( bourgeois bohĂ©miens'')'' and gained some media attention and expanded use since. The underlying allusion is being used as well in related wordings like ''Bionade-Bourgeoisie'', ''BiohĂšme'' and ''Generation Biedermeier''. Henning SuĂebach described the Prenzlauer Berg (Prenzelberg) as an experimental field of "New Germany" and Biotop of the rich and creative and young urban professionals. As e.g. in ''Social Consciousness in the Bionade-Biedermeier'', the term has been used to describe current films and social tendencies in Germany.
Product
Leipold refuses to divulge the exact chemical process he used. According to him, the gluconic acid strengthens the taste of the sugar, so that less is needed. After fermentation, natural flavours— elderberry, lychee
Lychee (US: ; UK: ; ''Litchi chinensis''; ) is a Monotypic taxon, monotypic taxon and the sole member in the genus ''Litchi'' in the Sapindus, soapberry family, ''Sapindaceae''.
It is a tropical tree native to Southeast and Southwest China (t ...
, orange-ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...
, quince
The quince (; ''Cydonia oblonga'') is the sole member of the genus ''Cydonia'' in the Malinae subtribe (which also contains apples and pears, among other fruits) of the Rosaceae family (biology), family. It is a deciduous tree that bears hard ...
or herb
In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
s—are added along with carbonation.
All flavours of Bionade contain water, sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
, malt
Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.
Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...
from barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
(2%), carbon acid, calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate
Magnesium carbonate, (archaic name magnesia alba), is an inorganic salt that is a colourless or white solid. Several hydrated and basic forms of magnesium carbonate also exist as minerals.
Forms
The most common magnesium carbonate forms are ...
. The herbal and lychee flavoured versions also contain natural aromas. The elderberry flavoured version additionally contains concentrated elderberry juice and natural aromas, and the orange-ginger flavoured bottles contain extract of ginger and natural aroma. The sugar, barley, and elderberries are organic.[Ingredient declaration on Bionade bottles in the Netherlands, July 2008. Organic certificate: DE-001_Ăko-Kontrolstelle]
The manufacturer emphasises that Bionade tastes like a soft drink
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...
, but is healthier than conventional high-sugar soft drinks. They support the claim of healthiness by referring to the relatively low level of sugar, sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...
and flavor-enhancing additives, the absence of phosphorus
Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
or a stabilising agent, while both calcium
Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...
and magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...
are present.[ The website makes more health claims and suggests that calcium is needed for bones and teeth, for nerves and muscles, while magnesium is said to work against listlessness and fatigue.][
]
References
External links
www.bionade.com
- international site (in English)
www.bionade.de
- German site (in German)
Lucrative Lemonade
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
video {{Dead link, date=November 2015
Goods manufactured in Germany
Fermented drinks
Carbonated drinks
Soft drinks
Dr. Oetker