The Essence of the Dolomites in a Bottle

Discovering the Wild Revolution of Feral Drinks Fermented Beverages, Where Untouched Nature Meets Sustainable Craftsmanship

In a world increasingly dominated by standardized and globalized products, Feral Drinks stands out as a breath of fresh air and innovation in the beverage landscape. Founded on the idea of rediscovering and valuing the wild essences of nature, Feral offers a curated selection of unique beverages, born from the blend of tradition and experimentation, starting with humble and forgotten ingredients like beets. Through fermentation and infusion with roots, spices, and woods, these ingredients gain new identity and character, creating an entirely novel taste experience. This is not your usual non-alcoholic, sweet, and flat drink, nor just another kombucha, but something entirely original that pairs perfectly with any dish, for a curious and exploratory sensory journey.

Untamed Spirit and Botanical Heart

Feral is a revolutionary project conceived by Maddalena Zanoni, an ambitious young woman dedicated to her career. After a long professional journey in multinational corporations and securing a position to be proud of, she rediscovered her love for botany during time spent at a mountain hut in Trentino. This is where it all began: the origin point for Maddalena, where her childhood intertwines with the essence and construction of the brand, creating a solid connection between past and future.

Maddalena was born in Trento in a modest, rural setting to parents from Val di Non. Every summer, she and her sisters helped their mother in a day camp for children, and every winter, they taught them to skate. A simple childhood that took a different turn at eighteen. Feeling constrained in Trento, Maddalena moved to Milan to study at Bocconi, starting a journey that took her to Canada, Spain, and France. Her career took off, beginning in consulting and landing at Alpro, a European leader in plant-based drinks. After five years, Maddalena felt the need for a break to reconnect with herself. She spent two months at a mountain hut, questioning if there was more to life than a structured and high-performing resume. This necessary but tough moment laid the foundation for what Feral is today.

The name Feral was not chosen by chance; it describes an animal or plant that was born in captivity and returned to the wild. It celebrates the moment when one finds the courage to abandon a pre-determined path to undertake something more in tune with their nature.

A Passion Rediscovered

Feral's mission is shaped by Maddalena's rekindled passion for botany, fermentation, cooking, and wine, and by an emerging trend in Northern Europe, still little known in Italy: non-alcoholic fermented beverages paired with gastronomy. This dual inspiration forms the brand's mission: to explore oneself and taste through a beverage that accompanies and enhances the culinary experience and the flavors of food without relying on alcohol.

Together with her team of Ferals—Andrea, head of production and former head of a small brewery in Rome, and Sebastiano, head of research and development, previously a microbiologist studying cholera—they reached the perfect formula for creating fermented beverages aligned with their goals in two years. Using simple, earthy ingredients like red and white beet juice (the latter being hard to find), they create a lactic fermentation that produces a very pleasant acidity. This, combined with maceration with herbs, roots, spices, and woods, gains olfactory and retro-olfactory complexity, completed by the addition of pepper, which gives a piquancy that tickles the palate, creating a total and enveloping taste experience.

Thanks to this hard work, Feral has made its entry into high-level, fine dining, and Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy, finding a community ready to experiment and explore. Abroad, in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Berlin, it is embraced by restaurants that, although not Michelin-starred, share the same desire for innovation and discovery. This choice perfectly embodies the spirit of Feral drinks, representing a true expression of curiosity and freedom.

A Message of Genuine Exploration

Feral thus establishes itself as a niche product, still finding little space for growth in Italy but with many possibilities in the foreign market, already ready for this new green and alcohol-free incursion. However, the brand's goal is not to appear in hyper-scalable markets like supermarkets. Instead, Feral aims to be an exclusive product for exploratory dining. In this way, Feral becomes a spokesperson for an avant-garde exploration message, offering unique experiences alongside renowned chefs that allow one to experience the essence of nature. An example is a two-day mountain trek with multi-starred chef Alfio Ghezzi, who feels completely free to express himself in such a context.

This winning combination manifests in various initiatives, all characterized by a return to origins and deep contact with the surrounding nature. Among these is a wild tasting culinary project created in collaboration with Pineta Nature Resort in Val di Non and, this June, a new episode of "Bivac by Feral," featuring chef Alessandro Gilmozzi during the usual two-day trek.

A Journey of Self-Awareness

For Maddalena, Feral was not just a leap into the unknown but also a journey of self-awareness that overcame the barriers of fear and those superstructures that provide security and stability. In a context like Italy, where the startup ecosystem is not yet fully developed and raising funds can be extremely difficult, Maddalena identified her blind spot, dedicating herself to a world completely new to her. With tenacity and passion, getting her hands dirty, Maddalena not only returned to the classroom but also demonstrated how creating a network of people and collaborators and remaining receptive to every stimulus can shape an idea and transform it into reality.

Feral is much more than just a company; it is the product transposition of an essential research experience rooted in nature itself. An ambitious project of culinary exploration that redefines the boundaries of taste, assigning it a new connotation. Thanks to Maddalena's visionary guidance, this young team of "explorers" experiments with new approaches to taste and, in the process, discovers themselves as well. By giving a new dignity to non-alcoholic beverages, they prove that these can be as exceptional as wine itself. Feral thus reveals itself as a manifesto of rebirth and courage, proclaiming to the world that pursuing one's dreams can lead to extraordinary creations.