Female powered

On the western fringe of Norway there is a distillery founded – and funded – by women.

I wrote about Feddie for Whisky Magazine last year, but like many others it started out distilling gin.

Fedje is a small, wild, granite island. Lashed by damp winds off the North Sea and home to just 500 people, it is not the place you’d expect to find a distillery and, in fact, Feddie’s home was once a fish processing factory.

Feddie Ocean has been winning fans worldwide as it starts to journey beyond Norway. It makes spirits that seem to capture not just its island location but the idiosyncrasies of its home as well.

A tour of the harbour-side distillery reveals how it crafts organic whisky, gin, vodka and aquavit and what drives it – from the inherited stills to its focus on sustainability.

Its award-winning Nine Sisters London Dry gin is inspired by Norse mythology and the nine spirits of the waves, the daughters of sea godsÆgir and Ran. Reflecting its ties to the ocean, its botanicals include sugar kelp and there are pine tips and fireweed from the island.

Launched last summer is a rowan berry gin made with macerated and fermented rowan berries and distilled pineapple weed, something which grows freely in Norway. The spirit used has been aged in sherry casks giving the gin a yellow tone.

Feddie’s vodka is distilled with oyster shells and lemon peel not only making a delicious spirit but also utilising an often thrown-away resource. I also watched a Christmas-inspired aquavit being prepared for the festive market by Kevin Jo Hansen, the distillery’s production manager.

However, it is the whisky that’s putting Feddie on the map. Its first release in 2024 is distinctly its own animal not copying any one else’s style with the blending in the safe hands of Martin Tønder Smith. The whisky captures its ocean location: the water is from streams that are inevitably soaked by seawater in the storms; the barrels are matured in a shed right on the edge of the sea. This briny note sits with fruits and toffee in a whisky that is uniquely of the island.

When the first whisky launched, the company had 1,000 female investors reflected in the number of dimples in its bottle.

The women-funded set-up is particularly fascinating. Founder, Anne Koppang, had a vision of creating a whisky – one that could also fuel tourism and revive a community. With a business plan in hand, she set about bringing female investors on board.

Investing and whisky are not natural areas of interests for women in Norway yet 1,000 women – who come from come from all walks of life – held a stake in the distillery when the whisky was launched in December 2024.

As part of their investment, the women have the opportunity to learn about whisky and the stock market. There are courses on investing and appreciating whisky, as well as networking events such as tastings or whisky festivals and visits to Fedje.

The company’s pledge is that Feddie’s investors will only be female until women’s investments and share of society’s wealth match that of the men.

Read more about investors in my Whisky Magazine distillery profile here: https://www.whiskymag.com/articles/a-crazy-new-idea-feddie-ocean-distillerys-community-spirit/

Read about staying on Fedje island here: https://www.scotsman.com/news/i-stayed-at-this-norwegian-island-village-with-its-own-distillery-5422796