Crystal Mountain Earns Silver at Berkeley

Of the more than 30 waters honored during the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting held February 22-24, 2007, one IBWA member achieved high honors.  Crystal Mountain Natural Spring Water of Huntsville, Alabama, won a silver medal in the purified water division.

The competition introduced purified water as a category in 2001.  According to Arthur von Weisenberger, the event’s water master and founder of BottledWaterWeb.com, “We added [this category] because this is a growing field.”

The competition, which is the largest water tasting in the world, included 32 waters from 13 states and three Canadian provinces.  Von Weisenberger instructed the media judges – representatives from The Washington Post, Travel Leisure, Conde Naste, and The Baltimore Sun – to look, sniff, and taste each water under guidelines like those in a wine tasting.  The waters were rated for each attribute, including appearance, aroma, taste, mouth feel, and aftertaste.  The waters were tasted in four separate flights over two days.