3.5 Ellie Webb, founder of the Tropical non-alcoholic spirit Caleño

Harriet chats to founder Ellie Webb of Caleno, the Tropical non-alcoholic spirit.

FOUNDER STORY
Caleño is born out of a vibrant Colombian heritage and a happy childhood experimenting with tropical drink concoctions.
 
Founder Ellie grew up in Kent and when she wasn’t mixing up her own tropical ‘jugos’ (juices) and testing them out on her sisters, she was soaking up the spirit of her Colombian homeland.
As a child, Colombia represented Ellie’s happy place. She remembers Colombia as intensely positive and joyful. Here, she was constantly surrounded by family joy, however much or little they had. Family get-togethers in the UK would be much the same, filled with the happy noise of music, dancing and laughter. 

Entrepreneurial from an early age, Ellie’s first business was making things and selling them to neighbours from a makeshift stall outside her Kent home. The idea for Caleño came to Ellie in January 2017 when in true new year fashion, she was assessing life whilst doing Dry January. But she was struggling to find something interesting to drink. It was time to fill a gap in the market and to take control of her own destiny.

Caleño was born out of personal frustration. Founder Ellie was on an alcohol-free night out with friends, getting down to some Latin funk.

But something was bugging her. Why should not
drinking mean not having fun? She felt uninspired
by the alcohol-free drinks on offer and decided it
was time to bring some joy to not drinking.

Caleño first came to life in Ellie’s kitchen, but it
was 5,000 miles later and trip back to Colombia
when she felt re-inspired by her Latin roots.

After soaking up the vibrant colours, tropical flavours
and Latin beats of her family’s homeland, she
returned home to bottle it.

Fuelled by that Latin positivity, Ellie set out to
infuse the sun-drenched flavours of Colombia with
her non-alcoholic spirits.

The result? Caleño. Non-alcoholic spirits, for anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Website: https://calenodrinks.com/

Social:
 https://www.instagram.com/calenodrinks/
 https://www.instagram.com/thejoyfuldrinker/