There are plenty of sodas on the market, but the Cielo team kept asking themselves “what do we want to drink and why doesn’t it exist?” So they made their own. It’s a tight program of four versatile flavours over at Cielo HQ – including a spritzy yuzu and Okinawan lime, Fijian ginger, pink lemon, and honey-carrot and orange – with each can created for maximum enjoyment no matter the occasion.
Fred ‘Rico’ Clouston, one third of the Cielo crew, calls them “modern-classic soft drinks intended for paradise”. Here he is now with exactly what that means:
Give us the elevator pitch, what makes your soda special?
Cielo provides its customers with local, and lo-cal (less than 100 calories per serve) drinks that have real flavour. Our ingredients and formulations are of the highest standard with the highest volumes of natural and high-quality ingredients in each serve. The outcome is drinks full of flavour, with less (natural) sugar than standard soft drinks both old and new. The drinks are versatile, balanced and have a genuine personality. We don’t create prebiotic no-cal soft drinks, and we aren’t mass produced. The outcome? Bloody yummy drinks.
Who are you and what are you all about?
Cielo started as a passion project between two great friends who became business partners Carlito ‘The Prez’ Libonati and William ‘Two Tours’ Wade. They met on the factory floor, much like the men of Escoffier’s kitchen, and both had the courage to stand up to the lacklustre soda offerings on shelves. Pacing his nonna’s house in Palermo, The Prez spent long nights on the phone to William – ideating, asking “what if?” and “why not?” like so few have. With serious culinary experience (shout out Noma) and money from their own pockets – they created the modern classic drink. Soon after entering the market, fate brought one Freddie “Rico” Clouston across their path. Rico had soft drinks in his blood – his grandfather having owned Kirks. Much like his forebears. Rico’s only goal was to support independent Australian culture through the manufacture and sale of independent Australian beverages.
And thus, the company as we know it was born.
You’ve got some exciting flavours we’re not seeing in other sodas. What’s the idea behind the combinations in the can?
Practically, we ask “what do we want to drink and why doesn’t it exist?” Our aim is simple, to create great tasting flavours. GREAT tasting flavour! To achieve our aims, we have to get creative not for the sake of novelty but for the sake of…great flavour.
How much R&D goes into each flavour before they’re released into the world?
While we cannot reveal all our secrets, the R&D process is two fold – existential and instrumental. First, we get existential. “What do we want?” “What do we want to feel like?” “What do I wish existed?” “And why?” Think sporadic chats over certain ingredient combinations or a centralised flavour profile we want to achieve. Here is where we pour our heart and soul into the R&D process to find something that we think should exist or should exist with more virtue.
Instrumentally, William is highly skilled thanks to his long hours failing and learning while formulating drinks. There is a huge amount of technique and knowledge that goes into this part and many times we find that we are missing a little something in this process (for example, carraway seeds).
A great memory is The Prez on the stock-pots in his garden boiling tea and adding different ingredients to find the perfect formulation – like a witch with their cauldron. Right now we have a few new flavours on the boil that have been born through this process which we are really excited to share.
Can Cielo double down as a mixer, or is it best enjoyed on its own?
While many of our customers and retailers provide the drinks as a soft drink or non-alcoholic option, the drinks are determinably made to mix as well. This is where the culinary backgrounds come into play. All our drinks are designed to do both. After all, paradise may come with a stiff drink in hand sometimes.
A good example is the palate of our Fijian Zenzero, or ginger beer. We allowed a lot of room on the back end of the palate with this formulation which can be comfortably filled in with a rum or añejo tequila. We think it gives our customers the ability to serve really delicious mixed or cocktail drinks at fair prices.
Explain like we’re five: how do you make it?
We take the highest quality natural ingredients, add some water and maybe some bubbles, and then a whole-lot of love.
What excites you about this project?
We’ve been able to deliver an experience in a product that we haven’t had the opportunity to enjoy before. The sheer amount of people that have the drinks and are blown away is amazing. Knowing that we are doing something differently and well, our ethos of making quality products for people and disregarding the rules of old to forge a new path based on our own passion is really exciting. Ultimately, it’s a creative outlet as well as a commercial pursuit, so we are enjoying supporting more people in our community and Australian culture as whole as we grow.
What are the perfect conditions to enjoy Cielo?
William is currently sitting in a Southern Thai canteen amongst the islands. He sent me a video of magnificent food spread of basil clams, coconut crabs and fried garlic prawns. He says “right now”.
The Prez says “the perfect conditions are whenever you have one in your hand”.
Rico thinks the perfect conditions don’t exist, and paradise is found within – our drink help you find that moment of paradise.
Is this here for a good time or a long time?
We are here for a long, good time.
Where can I buy it?
We are lucky to be stocked by a range of incredible venues. While it is hard to shout all of them out, our friends over at Good Days and Good Days Hot Bread and us have gone back a long way – we highly recommend checking out their new charcoal chicken service on most nights. It pairs perfectly with the incredible flavours with a Cielo!
As well as that, we are proud to be working with Alimentari, The Pontian Club, Florian and Juniper, Neighbourhood Wine, Old Palm Liquour, Bahama God, Poodle and Roccos on Gertrude, Slowpoke and many other great haunts. And if you want to meet The Prez and enjoy the best sandwich in Melbourne, then come to Carlito’s in Collingwood. The heartland of Cielo.
You can also order online at cielosoda.com.