MamaBeer, an alcohol-free, feminist organic beer for postpartum women

“Don’t go into this, it’s not going to interest anyone. »A piece of advice that Sébastien Dué and Émilie Yana did well not to listen to when they created their first non-alcoholic beer in 2017, Edmond, in Grenoble. Since then, the brand has grown and settled in Roissy in Val-d’Oise to produce its new range, the MamaBeer. In order to finance the production of this beer for postpartum women, Émilie Yana and Sébastien Dué have launched
their crowfunding campaign on the MiiMOSA platform. A successful operation, with 157% of the target achieved to date.

The story of the creation of Edmond beer is first of all that of Emilie Yana, professional dancer and mother of two children. In 2017, as she approached her forties, she decided to stop all alcohol consumption in order to improve her lifestyle. She then asks her companion, who brewed beer as a hobby with friends, to make her a non-alcoholic beer, because she “does not conceive of an aperitif with sodas or fruit juices”.

Breaking the bad image of non-alcoholic beer

Sébastien Dué, lighting manager by training, has therefore developed a unique and kept secret process. Unlike industrial non-alcoholic beers, Edmond does not remove the alcohol present in the beer, but stops the fermentation of the drink early, before the alcohol is present in large quantities.

“Non-alcoholic beer has a very bad image. For me, a non-alcoholic beer must remain above all a beer, ”says Émilie Yana. The ingredients of MamaBeer are therefore the same as those of a classic beer: hops and malt from organic farming, as well as regenerating plants.

Break taboos

In addition to quenching thirst, MamaBeer attacks the stereotype “alcohol-free beer is for pregnant women”. For Edmond, this is a received idea. When she decides to stop drinking alcohol, Émilie Yana makes a finding that she did not expect: “I realized that it is still complicated when you have a social life not to drink. alcohol. “

An idea that does not share the co-founder of the mark: “During pregnancy, not to drink is admitted, there is not really frustration. But at the time of postpartum, whether breastfeeding or not, the hormonal upheaval is the same and it is a very delicate period for women, about which we speak very little elsewhere. Life resumes its course, we need sociability. Just like having a coffee or going to a restaurant, an aperitif allows you to have time for yourself, to meet adults, and this is very important. “This is why Émilie Yana and Sébastien Dué developed MamaBeer for postpartum women, because” starting to drink alcohol again after nine months is very tiring and stressful for the body. “

Demystifying the postpartum

To show the diversity of ways of living the post-partum, unique for each woman, the Edmond brand wanted to endow the MamaBeer with several faces, by calling on two illustrators. Margaux Motin and
Anjuna Boutan responded present. The latter made a drawing with colored markers, placing in the center a young mother with her MamaBeer and her baby, in a flowery universe. The sincere and feminist approach of the project seduced her: “She spoke of the postpartum as something which is not only ‘great’ but which can also be a hassle. I liked the fact that she doesn’t prettify motherhood and that she talks about all of its aspects. “

MamaBeer is also involved in other issues, particularly against domestic violence. For this, 5% of the profits from sales are donated to the Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis, which treats and supports women victims of violence. A subject that “revolts” Émilie Yana. “Too often we hear ‘Yes but it’s alcohol, yes but I had drunk too much’, as if it was an excuse, when it is not at all,” she laments.

Edmond also wants to offer a different, reasoned mode of production and consumption. Its founders chose the crowfunding campaign for economic but also ecological reasons. “Concretely, we said: ‘Who wants it?’, And we produce it for those who want it, no more. “