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Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Awards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- FEBRUARY 24, 2007
Travel Berkeley Springs - Berkeley Springs, WV
Press contact only: Jill Klein Rone -- 304-258-3302
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OHIO NABS THE GOLD
AT ACADEMY AWARDS OF WATER
BERKELEY SPRINGS, WV ----- Getting a day's jump on the Hollywood crowd,
tiny Berkeley Springs, West Virginia honored more than 30 world waters
in what organizers of the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting
are calling the Academy Awards of Water. Winner of the Best Municipal
Water category was Montpelier, Ohio which won the same category in
2006 and 2003. Three British Columbia towns -- Clearbrook, Elkford
and Campbell River -- placed second, third and fourth respectively.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a former gold
medal winner, came in fifth making them the second best water in the
United States. There were 32 waters from 13 states and three Canadian
provinces entered.
Event producer Jill Klein Rone explained that the last time the tasting
saw back to back gold medalists was in 1993 and 4 when Atlantic City
placed first.
"
Good water rises to the top," said Klein Rone. "Our tasting
process is vindicated when the same waters are rated by a completely
different panel of judges and still win." Atlantic City was the
only other three time gold medalist.
More than 200 people watched at the Country Inn in Berkeley Springs
on February 24 as a dozen media judges spent hours tasting more than
100 waters from 23 states and ten foreign countries from New Zealand
and Armenia to Grenada and the Philippines. 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 challenge to distinguish and rate subtle differences in the bottled
water led to another first this year -- two ties in the bottled water
category where an American and a Canadian water tied for both gold
and silver. I Am Healthy from Mount Palomar, CA tied for gold with
Muskoka Natural Spring water from Gravenhurst, Ontario. Tied for silver
were John Deere Artisan Water of Grayling, MI and Ramona Springs, Washago,
Ontario. Third place was ESKA from St-Mathieu d'Harricana, Quebec;
fourth was Aquaroyale from Baguio, Philippines and fifth was Woolrich
Spring Water from Woolrich,PA. All seven of the top five bottled waters
were new to the winners circle this year.
Unlike 2006, international waters did not sweep the sparkling water
category although four different Bosnian waters did rate second through
fifth place. Sparkling StoneClear Springs from Vanleer, Tennessee won
the gold medal for sparkling waters. Their previous placement was a
bronze in 2004.
Purified water which is processed and bottled municipal tap water became
a category in 2001. "We added them because this is a growing field," said
von Wiesenberger. The 2007 winner was Coral Water from Rost Labs, FL.
Crystal Mountain Natural Spring Water from Huntsville, AL placed second;
third was Daytona Beach, FL. Chill from Mechanicsville, VA placed fourth
even though it boasted a silver medal on its label earned in 2005.
Fifth was Stone Clear Premium from Vanleer, TN.
The crowd was most interested in the peoples' choice packaging competition
where it was their votes that chose which product was the most alluring. "We
knew our choice of being the Academy Awards of Water was a good one
when we saw the entry from Aquadeco," said Klein Rone. "Their
glass bottle has a look remarkably similar to Oscar," she said.
The crowd agreed. Voting all day, Aquadeco filled with water from Mount
Ararat, Armenia wowed the crowd winning first place in packaging. Second
place was the sleek glass column from Dabau Luxury Water of New York
City; third was StoneClear Springs Natural Spring Water from Vanleer,
TN; Waiwera Infinity Artesian Water which won in 2006 placed fourth.
The curvy light green glass bottle came from Waiwera, New Zealand.
Closing out the field was the deep blue Aquarius Oxygen Water from
Eugene, OR.
"
It will be interesting to see how many of this year's winners follow
the pattern and use an image of the medal they won in Berkeley Springs
on their bottles," said Jeanne Mozier, one of the event's founders.
Mozier collected a dozen entrants from the event that already sported
the Berkeley Springs seal. "This is exactly the type of global
recognition for Berkeley Springs that we hoped for when the event was
initiated in 1991," she said. Bottles with the event medal on
them are kept on display in the Visitors Center office.
A dozen media judges selected by Klein Rone from publications including
The Washington Post, Travel Leisure, Conde Naste and the Baltimore
Sun 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.
The water tasting is the centerpiece of the Winter Festival of Waters,
a three-month series of special activities produced by Travel Berkeley
Springs to heighten winter tourism business in Morgan County.
The 18th annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting is scheduled
for Saturday, February 23, 2008.
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FINAL RESULTS
2007 Award Winners
Municipal Water
Gold: Montpelier, Ohio
Silver: Clearbrook, BC, Canada
Bronze: Elkford, BC, Canada
4th: Campbell River, BC, Canada
5th: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Non-Carbonated Bottled Water
Gold: Tie: I Am Healthy, by Aquamantra, Mount
Palomar, California & Muskoka
Natural Spring Water, Gravenhurst, Ont, Canada
Silver: John Deere Artisan Water, Grayling, MI & Ramona Springs,
Washago, Ont, Canada
Bronze: ESKA, St Mathieu d'Harricana, PQ, Canada
4th: Aquaroyale, Baguio, Philippines
5th: Woolrich Spring Water, Woolrich, PA
Purified Drinking Water
Gold: Coral Water, Rost Labs, FL
Silver: Crystal Mountain Natural Spring Water, Huntsville, AL
Bronze: Daytona Beach, FL
4th: Chill, Mechanicsville, Virginia
5th: Stone Clear Premium, Vanleer,TN
Carbonated Bottled Water
Gold: Sparkling StoneClear Springs, Vanleer,
TN
Silver: Esparanza, Tesanj, Bosnia
Bronze: Tesanjski Dijamant, Tesanj, Bosnia
4th: Hana Sparkling, Tesanj, Bosnia
5th: Tesanjski Kiseljak, Tesanj, Bosnia
The People's Choice for Package Design
Gold: Aquadeco, Mount Ararat, Armenia
Silver: Dabau Luxury Water, New York City, NY
Bronze: StoneClear Springs Natural Spring Water, Vanleer, TN
4th: Waiwera Infinity Artesian
Water, New Zealand
5th: Aquarius Oxygen Water, Eugene, OR
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