Le Mad Cola

Created for the Paris International Agricultural Show in 2015, Le Mad Cola began at the craft brewery La Madelon in the Vosges as a small curiosity aimed at young visitors. The recipe was refined over just a few days, and the cola proved popular at the fair, particularly among children. Its unexpected reception led to full-scale production. In spring 2018, the brewery relaunched the cola with an updated formula.

La Madelon was founded in 2000 by Francis and Amparo Hoffner, who financed the project by selling their house. The brewery has expanded steadily through a close partnership with the regional retail chain En passant par la Lorraine. The Hoffner family continues to run the business, now with active involvement from the next generation.

Le Mad Cola is sold mainly in the Vosges, especially through En passant par la Lorraine, and often appears at local fairs. Like the brewery’s beers, the cola relies largely on ingredients sourced from the Vosges. This loosely connects it to the French altercola movement, which since the early 2000s has produced many colas built around strong regional identities. Even so, Le Mad Cola is best understood as part of La Madelon’s existing product portfolio rather than as an independent brand of the kind typically associated with the altercola phenomenon.