Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting 2010

March 3, 2010 -- Berkeley Springs, WV -Hamilton, Ohio, 2009 defending champion Best US Tap Water topped a pair of Canadian waters to win undisputed Best Tap Water in the World at the 20th annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting. "This U.S. win over Canada makes it even more apt that we're known as the Olympics of Water," said Jill Klein Rone, longtime producer of the water tasting. As with last year, judges again commented that Hamilton's water was "sweet."

Beaver Falls and Greenwood , British Columbia won silver and bronze respectively. Although both are first time entrants, British Columbia has an almost permanent place in the tasting's winners circle.

The Canadian - U.S. rivalry was reversed in the purified category when Kittiwake Pure from Winnipeg topped Crystal Mountain Water of Huntsville , Alabama. Hometown water, Berkeley Springs took the bronze.

Although bottled water came literally from all over the globe to compete, the top five medalists were all U.S. waters including two bottling Berkeley Springs water. Judged Best Bottled Water in the World was Ecoviva, Roscommon, MI which also boasted a 100% biodegradable bottle. The silver was won by Eldorado Natural Spring Water, Eldorado Springs, Colorado. International entrants included for the first time water from Brazil and China as well as ones from New Zealand, Macedonia, Italy, Japan, Bosnia and Ecuador. A total of 49 bottled waters were tasted.

Two special awards were given this year to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the water tasting. The Bottled Water Web is honoring Sweet Springs Natural Mountain Water of Gap, WV, winner of four gold medals, a feat that has not yet been matched. The American Water Works Association is presenting a top winner award to Mission Springs Water District of Desert Hot Springs, California for their six medals won over the years.

More than 200 people watched at the Country Inn in Berkeley Springs on Saturday night as a dozen media judges spent hours tasting more than 125 waters from 24 states and ten foreign countries. There were 44 municipal waters from 12 states and Canada. "We have double the number of cities and towns competing in the tap water division from last year, " said Klein Rone, "and seven former gold medalists. " The Country Inn serves as home of the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting.

Bottled water came literally from all over the globe to compete, including for the first time water from Brazil and China. The Brazilians and Chinese competed against other international waters including those from New Zealand, Macedonia, Italy, Japan and Ecuador as well as long time festival favorite, Bosnia. A total of 49 bottled waters were tasted.

Winning sparkling waters were all international with Dobra Voda of Kratovo, Macedonia taking the gold and previous gold medal winner, Canadian Gold of Marchand, Manitoba coming in second.

Arthur von Wiesenberger, author and founder of BottledWaterWeb.com once again served as the event's watermaster. "This is the longest running and largest water tasting in the world," he said. "The grandaddy of them all." Klein Rone was delighted at the crowd.

.The crowd was interested in the peoples' choice packaging competition where it was their votes that chose which of the 17 entrants was the most alluring. "This is another record number," said Klein Rone. The overwelming favorite was the silvered column of Bling from Los Angeles. "We're especially pleased with their win since they have our gold medal on the bottle," said Jeanne Mozier, one of the event founders. Within the winning Bling bottle is previous gold medal water from English Mountain in Tennessee.

Conclusion of the daylong water tasting is the famed "water rush" where the audience is invited to take home hundreds of bottles of water sent as part of the judging. "I spent about nine hours arranging all the waters in a display," said Mozier. "The crowd spent less than ten minutes making it all disappear. It's like a Tibetan sand mandala," she laughed. Most popular among ?rushers? this year was the cobalt blue glass bottle of Climax water.

The dozen media judges selected by Klein Rone from print, radio and the Web were instructed by von Wiesenberger to look, sniff and taste each water under guidelines like those in a wine tasting. The waters were rated for each attribute including appearance (it should be clear - or slightly opaque for glacial waters), aroma (there should be none), taste (it should taste clean), mouth feel (it should feel light), aftertaste (it should leave you thirsty for more). Waters were tasted in four separate flights over two days.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Bottled water
• Mayor Susan Webster
• Tom Lauria
• Arthur von Wiesenberger
• Hamilton
• Ohio
• BottledWaterWeb

[p0rkch0ps]

You people do realize... Water doesn't have a taste.

[Nippervw]

Water does have a taste. It also has an aroma, mouthfeel and aftertaste. There is a nifty little book that explains this in detail, "The Taste of Water" (Best Cellar Books).

[mthecunninghamster]

this is so sad.

[Nippervw]

Actually it is very happy. The event celebrates one of the most important ingredients for life, water.

[crabK1LLaxPIRUx]

Jus so YALL no I jizzed in that last serving(:

[crabK1LLaxPIRUx]

Nigga I'll give u some creme to taste WTF is this gay as video y'all hillbilly mofukars fuckin yer sissy an what not

[jaworskij]

@Nippervw ... the best artesian water I like would taste like soft serve vanilla ice cream.

[Denmarkpwns]

@Nippervw not to mention bottled water is a horrible idea, it wastes SO much plastic and energy on it, when you could just drink from the tap and save alot of energy, and he even DARES to say bottled water is environmentally friendly, oh god, i was laughing so hard at that point, this fool is such a god damn clueless twat.

[Denmarkpwns]

@Nippervw sure water does have a taste, water from ground wells mostly taste like chlorine because thats what the govt put in it to reduce bacteria, and water from mountain rivers and springs are more soft, but 99% of all bottled water is just tap water that is filtered, you bloody tool.

[TheOnionRoute]

♥ Liberty ☼ Libertad ♫ Freiheit . . . EINS, ZWEI, DREI, wasser ist gut FREUNDE.

[TheOnionRoute]

@elflaco9 Please share about the color you may have forgot: BLU de Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico.

[elflaco9]

IN MEXICO THERE ARE ONLY TWO TYPES OF WATER... BLACK AND BROWN ... IF ITS BLACK SEND IT BACK AND IF ITS BROWN DRINK IT DOWN ...