fritz-kola
The cult German indie cola. Founded in Hamburg in 2002 by two students with €7,000, the famous two-faces logo and the highest caffeine the law allowed, fritz-kola grew from a phenomenon in Hamburg’s bars into one of Europe’s best-known independent soft drinks, and a fixture of clubs, bars, festivals and parties everywhere.
A chronological documentary of 46 moments spanning 2002–2025 on Loreline.
Curated by Olivier · last updated 2026-08-22
Eras
- Founders, In 2002 two Hamburg students, Mirco Wolf Wiegert and Lorenz Hampl, started fritz-kola with about €7,000, mixing the first batches and selling crates out of a car to the bars of their home city. They wanted a cola with more caffeine, less compromise and no big corporation behind it.
- Branding, Two black-and-white faces, a stark minimalist label, returnable glass bottles, and provocative, witty poster campaigns, fritz-kola built an identity that was deliberately the opposite of the global cola giants, leaning into independence, design and a high-caffeine kick.
- Flavours, Beyond the flagship kola came fritz-limo (lemonade, orange, rhubarb, melon), fritz-spritz, the mischung (kola-lemon), and sugar-free and "super zero" variants, a whole range built on the same independent recipe-first philosophy.
- Europe, From the bars of Hamburg, fritz-kola spread across Germany and into the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, France, the UK and beyond, carried by word of mouth, gastronomy and a refusal to behave like a normal soft-drink company.
- Clubs & Bars, fritz-kola became the unofficial fuel of the European nightlife and festival scene, the bottle on the bar, the mixer in the long drink, the fridge at the club, the sponsor at the festival, the late-night caffeine of a generation.
- Campaigns, What the bottle says. The 'mund auf für toleranz' tolerance campaign, 'Pfand gehört daneben' asking people to leave deposit bottles beside the bin rather than in it, the heat-relief drive, and twenty years of a brand that argues in public.
- - fritz-kola is founded (2002). Mirco Wolf Wiegert and Lorenz Hampl, students in Hamburg, launch fritz-kola with around €7,000, mixing early batches and delivering crates to bars themselves.
- - The founders’ mission. Mirco Wolf Wiegert on building fritz-kola from nothing, a story of stubborn independence and treating a cola company as a training ground for something bigger.
- - Maximum caffeine. fritz-kola launched with the highest caffeine content German law allowed (25 mg/100 ml), "viel Koffein" became a core part of its identity and its late-night appeal.
- - fritz-limo & the range. fritz expanded into fritz-limo (lemonade, orange, rhubarb, melon), the kola-lemon mischung, and later spritz and sugar-free lines, all on the same recipe-first philosophy.
- - fritz-mischmasch - kola & orange. Mischmasch Kola-Orangen-Limonade (16870302373).jpg
- - The campaigns. Witty, provocative, design-led poster and film campaigns, often poking at the big cola corporations, built fritz-kola a cult following.
- - The minimalist label. Stark black-and-white typography and a deliberately un-corporate look set fritz-kola apart on every shelf and bar. The subject dates from 2004; this photograph was taken in 2009.
- - Born of the Hamburg nightlife. fritz-kola’s home was the bar and club scene of Hamburg, the Kiez, the Reeperbahn, the independent venues where it first caught on.
- - The two faces. The logo, two stylised black-and-white portraits of the founders, became one of the most recognisable indie-brand marks in Germany. The subject dates from 2002; this photograph was taken in 2010.
- - The indie-drink wave. fritz-kola rode and helped define a wave of independent German drinks, alongside Club-Mate, that conquered the bar, café and hacker/maker scenes across Europe.
- - fritz-kulturgüter - the wordmark. Fritz-kulturgueter schwarz.png
- - After hours - Café Lotte. Café Lotte nach Feierabend.JPG
- - The bottle on the bar. In clubs and bars across Germany, fritz-kola became the default, straight from the fridge or as the high-caffeine mixer in a late-night long drink.
- - In the bar - SissiKingKong. SissiKingKong am Tag.jpg
- - "Öffentlicher Koffeinverkehr". Fritz-kola öffentlicher Koffeinverkehr.jpg
- - Mirco Wolf Wiegert at deGUT (2014). fritz-kola’s co-founder tells the start-up story at the Deutsche Gründer- und Unternehmertage.
- - Across Europe. From Hamburg the brand spread across Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, France and the UK, carried by gastronomy and word of mouth rather than mass advertising.
- - fritz-kola bus advertising. Fritz-kola Buswerbung.jpg
- - At the club - Black End, Dortmund. Black End Dortmund.JPG
- - fritz at re:publica & the festival circuit. fritz-kola became a fixture of conferences, festivals and events, here at Berlin’s re:publica, the bottle in everyone’s hand.
- - "Pfand gehört daneben" - the ethos. fritz-kola leaned into sustainability and social causes, the "deposit belongs beside the bin" campaign, returnable bottles, and a self-consciously responsible brand stance.
- - Hackerbrause? Techno-Drink? - the secret of the indie cola. A German TV report on how independent drinks like fritz-kola and Club-Mate became the fuel of the techno, hacker and party scenes.
- - Fritz-Kola-Chef Wiegert (WirtschaftsWoche). A business-press interview on running fritz-kola independently.
- - Hamburg nightlife - home turf. Hamburg Harmonie.jpg
- - Hamburg’s Kultlokale - the venue scene. An NDR documentary on Hamburg’s cult bars and beach spots, the gastronomy world fritz-kola was born into.
- - "fritz gegen Goliath". The story of the indie cola taking on the global giants, fritz versus Goliath.
- - fritz-kola at re:publica (2017). -rp17 - Tag 3 (34412522432).jpg
- - "mund auf für toleranz" - fritz-kola’s tolerance campaign. fritz-kola’s own campaign celebrating diversity, the brand wearing its values openly.
- - fritz-kola sugarfree. Cola sugarfree.jpg
- - Sugar-free & "super zero". The sugar-free and "super zero" variants extended the range while keeping the caffeine kick.
- - Wiegert - "Can you drink the world beautiful?". A Rheinische Post interview with Mirco Wolf Wiegert on purpose, business and the brand’s mission.
- - David vs Goliath - taking on the big cola. How fritz-kola built a brand from nothing against the multinational soft-drink machine.
- - fritz-session at Open Flair festival. fritz-kola’s own festival sessions, live music with Hi!Spencer at the Open Flair edition.
- - "Pfand gehört daneben" & Hitzehilfe. fritz-kola’s sustainability and social campaigns, leaving deposit bottles for collectors, heat-help for the homeless.
- - The start-up success of fritz-kola. How two students built one of Europe’s best-known independent soft drinks.
- - fritz-kola Werbespot - "Joker meets Fritz-Kola". A striking fritz-kola advertising film.
- - fritz-kola & the music scene. fritz-kola turned up everywhere music happened, sponsoring sessions and concerts like this rooftop set, soundtracking the independent nightlife it belonged to.
- - fritz-spritz - "Dare to Drink Different". fritz’s organic spritz line and the brand’s "dare to drink different" ethos.
- - The founder’s story - in depth. A long-form podcast interview with fritz-kola founder Mirco Wolf Wiegert.
- - "Fritz gegen Goliath" - the purpose talk. A deeper look at fritz-kola’s purpose-driven, anti-corporate positioning.
- - fritz-kola - the marketing. A look at fritz-kola’s distinctive, design-led advertising approach.
- - How do you make a kola? (with the founder). A light look at the recipe and craft behind fritz-kola, with the founder.
- - fritz-spritz - stop-motion. A playful stop-motion film for the bio-rhabarberschorle.
- - Twenty years of fritz-kola. Two decades on, fritz-kola is one of Europe’s biggest independent soft-drink brands, still privately held, still leaning on design, caffeine and an anti-corporate story.
- - fritz-kola at the Chaos Communication Congress. 38C3 Sitzgelegenheiten.jpg
- - The first bottles. The early fritz-kola bottle, glass, returnable, with the stark two-faces label that would become instantly recognisable. The subject dates from 2003; this photograph was taken in 2025.
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