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Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Awards

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- FEBRUARY 21, 2009
Travel Berkeley Springs - Berkeley Springs, WV
Press contact only: Jill Klein Rone -- 304-258-3302
PHOTOS AVAILABLE -- Contact Jeanne Mozier -- star@starwv.com

EAST AND WEST COAST WATERS DOMINATE GLOBAL WATER TASTING COMPETITION
BERKELEY SPRINGS, WV ----- Defending champion Clearbrook Waterworks District, British Columbia, Canada won the title of World's Best Tap Water at the 19th annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting, known as the Academy Awards of water. Best municipal water in the United States was judged to be first-time winner, Hamilton, Ohio rated by one judge as "pleasantly sweet." Another British Columbia community, the Village of Montrose, won the silver medal while bronze was won by the town of Bath, the official municipality within Berkeley Springs. "It's very exciting to have the hometown water placing on the winner's list," says Jill Klein Rone, longtime producer of the water tasting.

More than 200 people watched at the Country Inn in Berkeley Springs on Saturday night as eleven media judges spent hours tasting nearly 100 waters from 16 states and eight foreign countries. There were 23 municipal waters from nine states and Canada. "We had five former gold medalists competing in the tap water division this year," said Klein Rone. Bottled water came literally from all over the globe to compete, including for the first time water from Japan and Ecuador. The Japanese and Ecuadorians competed against other international waters including those from New Zealand, Macedonia and Israel as well as long time festival favorite, Bosnia. A total of 33 bottled waters were tasted.

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.
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Best Bottled Water in the World had a first-place tie that included water from the same springs that won the 2008 tasting. "Once again good water rises to the top," said Klein Rone. "It really vindicates the objective value of our judging process." Grand Springs Natural Spring Water of Alton, VA shared the gold with H20m Water With Intention from Palomar Mountain, CA. "There's little doubt that mountains produce great water," said Rone. The silver medal for bottled water was won by Kiowata, Longford, KS while a pair of West Virginia waters placed third and fourth. Almost Heaven bottles Berkeley Springs water which also placed in the municipal category. Fourth place winner, SweetSommer of Gap Mills, WV, is a return winner.

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 2009 winner was Purified Drinking Water was StoneClear Springs of Vanleer, TN. Original Cherokee Great Smoky Mountain Drinking Water of Cherokee, NC won the silver.

The crowd was interested in the peoples' choice packaging competition where it was their votes that chose which of the dozen entrants was the most alluring. In 2009, the irresistible appeal of a water bottle shaped like a hip flask won Branch Water of West Virginia the packaging award. "It put a smile on everyone's face when they saw it," said Klein Rone. "This was the first time a West Virginia water won packaging -- and the water is bottled by our own state senator, Walt Helmick. His wife Rita and the bottle designer, Ed Rieser, were on hand to accept the award." Second place was an elegant bottle from StoneClear Sparkling. Antipodes Water, Whakatane, NZ; Ladna, Kratovo, Macedonia and SweetSommer Natural Springs Water, Gap Mills, WV rounded out the packaging winners.

Climax 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," says Jeanne Mozier, one of the event founders. "The crowd spent less than two minutes making it all disappear. It's like a Tibetan sand mandala," she laughs. Water rush participants span all ages. Twelve-year-old Lizzie Nelson of Arlington, VA now has a label collection of more than 80 samples from 34 countries. "I got one from Ecuador this year which made it 35," says Lizzie.

The eleven 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.

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 20th anniversary Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting is scheduled for Saturday, February 25-28, 2010. "We're already making special plans to celebrate," said Klein Rone.

For more information on Berkeley Springs or its water tasting, call 1-800-447-8797 or check online at www.berkeleysprings.com.

FINAL RESULTS
2009 Award Winners

Municipal Water  
Best in the World -- Clearbrook, Waterworks District, British Columbia.
Best in the United States -- Hamilton, Ohio
2nd place -- Village of Montrose, British Columbia, Canada
3rd -- Town of Bath, WV
4th -- Oak Creek, WI
5th -- Eldorado Springs, Colorado

Bottled Non Carbonated Water
TIE -- 1st
H2Om Water With Intention -- Palomar Mountain, CA
Grand Springs Natural Spring Water -- Alton, VA
2nd -- Kiowata, Longford, KS
3rd -- Almost Heaven, Manassas, VA bottling famous Berkeley Springs, WV
4th --SweetSommer, Gap Mills, WV
5th -- 83ppm, Village Blanchard, New Brunswick, Canada

Bottled Carbonated Water
1st -- Canadian Gold, Marchand, Manitoba, Canada
2 - Zema Tesanjski Kiseljak, Tesanj, Bosnia
3 - Guitig, Machachi, Ecuador
4 - StoneClear Sparkling, Vanleer, TN
5 -- Tesanjski Dijamant, Tesanj, Bosnia

Purified Bottled Water
1st -- StoneClear Springs, Vanleer, TN
2nd -- Original Cherokee Great Smoky Mountain Drinking Water, Cherokee, NC
3rd -- TIE
Chill -- Mechanicsville, VA
Claire Baie, Oak Creek, WI
4th -- O2Aqua, Vaughn, Ontario, Canada
5th -- Clear Creek Water Company, Farmington, NM

The People's Choice for Package Design
1st --Branchwater, Minnehaha Springs, WV
2nd -- StoneClear Springs Sparkling, Vanleer, TN
3rd -- Antipodes Water, Whakatane, NZ
4th -- Ladna, Kratovo, Macedonia
5th -- SweetSommer Natural Springs Water, Gap Mills, WV