Brio (soft drink)

Brio is a Canadian variation of a chinotto soft drink. Chinotto is a bittersweet flavoured carbonated soft drink originating in Italy in the 1930s.[1] Brio is known to be a sweeter variant.[2]

Brio was created by three Italian immigrants in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1959—Elio Madonia, who immigrated to Canada in 1950 from Corleone, Sicily, and his partners Giuseppe Panacci and Angelo Pirrello that he had met during his time as an insurance salesman.[3][4] Panacci and Pirrello had met as competing door-to-door salesmen for Punch Dry and New Jersey brand colas.[5] The three partners created a number of beverages, including Mio, a lemon-lime gazzosa, and Brio, and purchased a used bottling line in downtown Toronto for $4,500 in 1959.[5] The company moved to North York in the mid 1960s.[5]

The chinotto extract is imported from Italy, but bottled in Canada[4] by National Dry Beverages, previously known as Mio Manufacturing, established by the three partners.[5] It has become a popular beverage in Ontario, particularly among Italian immigrants, serving as a marker of identity for the Italian emigrant population in Canada.[6][7] Brio is a slightly less bitter drink than the chinotto on which it is based.[5]

In April 2018, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario launched an alcoholic version of Brio mixed with vodka.[8]

The graphic design of the bottle has remained similar to the original mid-century design, using red and green lowercase sans-serif type on a white background reminiscent of the Flag of Italy.[5]