Did you know that the American Water Works Association performs water-tasting competitions across North America annually? I didn’t until recently when the Greenville Business Journal announced that the Greenville Water System won first place, “Best of the Best,” in a water taste test.

I’ve enjoyed the taste of our upstate water over the years, and as this article suggests, I’m not the only one who does. Now, as I’m mowing the yard and chopping up the trees that have fallen because of the violent storms that recently passed through the upstate, I’ll be comforted to know the water I’ll be quenching my thirst with is the finest available on our continent.

But that got me thinking. Who completes this research and testing and how is it done? After a little Google investigation, I discovered that there may just be a new event we can all introduce to our subdivision social committees, YMCAs, our town’s Oktoberfest, and even our corner bar on Sundays. It’s a Water Tasting!

A little more searching around on Google led me to the book, “Fine Waters – A Connoisseurs Guide to the World’s Most Distinctive Bottled Waters,” in which the author describes the etiquette for planning a water-tasting event.

Here are a few guidelines:

• Buy as many waters as possible from each of the five FineWaters Balance categories: still, effervescent, light, classic, and bold
• Chill all the waters to about 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13°C) to nicely showcase the differences in the waters.
• You will need two to three proper water glasses per person. Ideally, have each category  in the glasses at the same time.
• Start with still and work your way through the levels up to bold. You can swallow, but have a bucket ready for emptying glasses. Sometimes it’s fun to have pure H2O available to calibrate your palate. Le Bleu distilled water is one good choice that is widely available.
• Serve bread or crackers, but not salty food.
• Make notes if you wish, describing how the water feels (short, long, focused, wide and so forth).

I doubt I’ll be the one in my neighborhood who hosts the first water-tasting party, but if I’m invited to one outside of the Carolinas, I’m taking with me a pint from of our award-winning Greenville Water System.

By Jim Fritzsche (Broker, Greenville S.C.) – Guest Blogger