On a remote island off the west coast of Norway – closer to the Shetland Isles than Oslo – a whisky distillery is rewriting the rules, not just for spirits, but for investment, gender equality, and who can build the future of premium brands.
From a distance, Fedje looks like any other North Sea outpost – windswept, remote, home to just over 500 people. But nestled among the rocky coastline is a distillery with global ambition and a quietly radical idea at its core – that whisky, like wealth, should no longer be the preserve of men alone.
FEDDIE Ocean Distillery, founded in 2019 by Norwegian hospitality entrepreneur Anne Koppang and backed entirely by women, has quickly become one of the most talked-about names in Scandinavian spirits. When its first bottles launched in November 2023, it became the best-selling Malt whisky on the market. By Christmas, it had outsold all Norwegian-made whiskies combined. Now it is the lone non Scots brand in the top 20 selling whiskies in Norway.
FEDDIE’s real distinction, however, lies beyond the brand and bottle. In a sector built on tradition, it has turned every disadvantage into an advantage – reshaping what whisky, ownership, and opportunity can look like.
“This brand is built on barriers,” says Aina Lemoen Lunde, FEDDIE’s newly appointed CEO and one of Europe’s most respected marketing leaders. “Everything that should have made this idea impossible – geography, history, cutting out half of the people you can go to for investment – has become its greatest strength.”
Most entrepreneurs would balk at launching a distillery on an island accessible only by ferry, with limited infrastructure and a dwindling population. Koppang chose Fedje precisely because of that. The island needed a new chapter in its story, and she believed whisky could help write it.
The whisky category itself presented a challenge. A male-dominated stronghold, steeped in hierarchy and heritage, it offered little space for innovation, let alone one led by women. Rather than fight for legitimacy in a system not built for them, the FEDDIE team built a brand that reflected a different kind of authority – feminine, future-facing, and fiercely collaborative.
That required capital – and a unique approach to raising it. In Norway, just 1% of early-stage investment goes to women, so FEDDIE flipped the script. Only women could invest – a rule that will remain until gender equality is reached in the Norwegian stock market. In doing so, they created a spirits brand and a movement that has now attracted investors in nine countries and counting including Switzerland, Germany, Danmark, France, Scotland, Iceland, Italy, and Sweden.
“Of course we’re here to produce great spirits, that’s the point,” says Lunde. “But beyond that, we’re here to show there are other ways to do business. We may be small, but we’re making an impact, creating ripple effects in how women think about investment, in Norway and beyond.”
Lunde first joined FEDDIE as an investor before stepping into the leadership role earlier this year. At DNB – one of Norway’s biggest financial institutions – she led the acclaimed Girls Invest campaign, designed to bring more women into investing in a country where more than 80% of listed stocks remain controlled by men. It was in that process that she first came across the FEDDIE team as a case study for that campaign.
“When I met the FEDDIE team, I immediately saw the alignment,” she recalls. “They weren’t just talking about women in finance – they were doing something about it.”
From just ten founding investors, FEDDIE has built a network of more than 1,200 women shareholders. To date, the company has raised more than €12.5 million from backers ranging from seasoned professionals to first-timers drawn in by a different kind of promise and purpose.
Now, with plans to scale internationally – having launched in the UK in October – expand production, and release new whiskies and spirits, FEDDIE is preparing to raise a further €4.5 million to support growth.
Investors know they won’t see a financial return unless the distillery is sold, but for many, the value lies elsewhere.
As early backer Lil-Sofie Ording Müller, puts it, “It’s not just about owning a stake – it’s about being part of a conversation and a movement. The dividend is knowledge and community.”
To support that mission, FEDDIE created the Young Sisters programme – an initiative to help the daughters of investors, mostly in their 20s and 30s, invest collectively, gain training, and participate in governance. Participants receive voting rights, workshops on capital, and tools to become confident owners.
“You don’t have to invest in us forever,” Lunde says. “But if this is your first step toward understanding capital and taking up space in financial decision-making, that matters.”
For all its bold ambition, FEDDIE has faced an unusual challenge at home. In Norway, strict alcohol marketing laws limit what brands can say. There are no glossy campaigns, no manifestos, just the product, the packaging, and whatever message can be built into the design.
That’s why FEDDIE turned to Edinburgh-based creative agency Contagious, renowned for its work in the spirits sector, to help create a brand world – and a new packaging range – that could contain and convey the movement.
“A distillery funded entirely by women, rooted in community, pushing against industry norms – it’s an extraordinary story,” says James Hartigan, Creative Director at Contagious. “But none of that could be shouted from the shelf. The brief was to say everything, without being able to say anything.”
At the sharp end of Contagious’ work is a lightweight sustainable bottle embossed with 751 dots and 521 dashes – one for every female investor and island inhabitant. Together, they form a flowing, wave-like motif symbolising the energy behind the business and the coastal landscape that anchors it.
Those dots and dashes aren’t just decorative, they’re built into the mould and updated with each new bottle design. Every time a new bottle iteration is molded, more dots and dashes will be added, becoming a physical marker of the movement’s progress.
“It’s a design and brand for presence and purpose,” Hartigan says. “In doing that, we found a more powerful language. One that’s felt and noticed, rather than explained.”
FEDDIE’s profile is rising fast. Its success in Norway has led to launches in Sweden, Switzerland, and Germany, with the brand set to enter the UK in autumn. Yet its heart remains firmly anchored on Fedje.
“We are acutely aware of what Fedje provides us, and what we want to provide Fedje,” Lunde says. “We’ve brought jobs, new energy, new connections – but the island was always alive. We’ve just added to the story.”
Locals agree. The distillery has helped attract visitors, create employment, and spark complementary ventures. Cafés, guesthouses, and seasonal tourism are building around its presence. Mayor Stian Herøy says there’s now ‘a sense of possibility’ on the island that wasn’t there a decade ago.
Still, FEDDIE’s role is cast with care. “We’re a small company, but small can be powerful,” Lunde says. “It’s less about grand gestures and more about starting ripple effects. In the community, in the spirits industry, and in how people think about investing. That’s where real change starts.”
You Might Also Like:
With its first single malt set to hit shelves in the UK this autumn, FEDDIE enters its next chapter as a distiller of great spirits, but also as a beacon of progress and possibilities. The whisky world, long a stronghold of tradition and hierarchy, may not be easy to disrupt. But Lunde isn’t looking for headlines – just a shift in perspective.
“We’re powered by women, but what we produce is for everybody. Most of our customers are male. People still ask if we’re a whisky brand or a feminist project,” she says. “The truth is, we’re both. And that’s the point.”
For more information on Contagious, visit contagious.co.uk. For more on Feddie visit feddiedistillery.no/.
