I'm addicted.

[elfs]

So, I have this substance abuse problem. It mostly manifests itself at work. Omaha's never seen me take this stuff, nor have any of the kids.

It's Perrier.

Wait, I hear you cry. The bubbly French water that Robin Williams so aptly ridiculed in his 1982 classic Throbbing Python of Love when he did the mock-voiceover, "Whenever I blow a dollar on a bottle of water, I buy Perrier?" (Funny how people now blow $1.50 on bottled tap water, and perhaps more if the water is certified organic!) How can Perrier be classified as a problem?

I try with a little more attention than, I suspect, the average grocery store walker, to try and buy local stuffs. Omaha has us signed up to a "organic and local if we can, organic if we can't" grocery delivery service, and recently I've been trying my best to find wines, beers and other luxury food items made in my region. I do make allowances, of course: I understand that chocolate and coffee just don't grow in my region.

I mean, seriously. I should just go to the tap, right? Well yeah, I should. Often, I do. But recently I've been trying to drop pop from my diet, and more or less succeeding. Some days I backslide but usually I manage. Depending upon how I'm feeling, I might get a coffee, but more often I go to the company cafe' and grab a Perrier. The soft carbonation is just enough to satisfy the sensation that's missing from my lack of pop consumption. And to be honest, Perrier is far less nasty than any of the carbonated water alternatives on the shelves. And my company provides it for free in the pop machines.

But grief, the stuff has obscene food-miles. It's water, shipped across the Atlantic from freakin' France, then driven or railed all the way across the country. In glass. Little 330ml bottles. It's insane.

I used to do Talking Rain, but the company doesn't get it anymore and it was never quite so preferable and gentle on the palate.

Does anyone have any locally bottled bubbly water that they like?

[Hat tip to voudou_chile for the certified organic water pic]

Comments

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

Buy a Soda Club? Or if you're feeling really DIY, you could build your own carbonation station at home or the office (http://www.truetex.com/carbonation.htm).

[featheredfrog.livejournal.com]

Well, San Pelligrino isn't exactly more local, and as an efferescent mineral water, probably has a smidge more sodium... but...

(licks lips)

$1/litre appx at my local buying clubs.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Perrier is for effete yuppies from Seattle and queer kinky sf porn writers. I drink a MAN'S drink: Emergen-C. (But Pellegrino will do in a pinch.)

Another vote for San Pellegrino.

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

That's what I like with good food, where the flavor and sweetness of Coke is undesirable. In fact, I like this stuff almost enough to drink it instead of soda. But not quite. :-)

Wikipedia has figures that suggest it's slightly less bubbly than Perrier and slightly alkaline rather than acidic, which is probably the main reason I prefer the flavor of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pellegrino
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perrier

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[ibsulon.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a business opportunity to me!

I'll think about it some more. :)

Basically, carbonated lightly flavored water that comes from your local source and is reverse osmosis - and since each is local to the plant, they can take back the bottles for recycling. (or glass - for reusing!)

And sold to local coffee shops.

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

i nearly snorted my brainmeats out my nose when i first encountered Organic Water. *sigh*

Anyway, I just drink seltzer. All the bubbles, none of the pretension. Vintage Mandarin Orange seltzer is my poison of choice. I buy one liter bottles by the case at my local grocery, and it comes to about 45 cents per bottle. They generally have bottling companies all over the place, to save themselves the effort of shipping water, and just filter the local stuff, add a few drops worth of flavor extract, and carbonate. yummy, no calories, no icky diet crap, and less boring than tapwater.

[blaisepascal]

My SO does Mandarin Orange, but I prefer Wild Cherry. But Vintage rules.

[mundens.livejournal.com]

Sheesh, what's with the world today? Ain't youse software hot-shots supposed to be drinking Jolt and Mountain Dew? If youse has to have some fizzy, what's wrong with a beer? Don't your company provide beer like ours? Insteada that poufy French sewer water. :)

Seriously, I'm surprised they actually ship Perrier in bottles. Most things like that, including the more common brands of whiskey, are shipped in huge plastic drums and bottled locally.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

"Bottled at the source", dude. It's a snooty-water selling point. (Of course, the point of it is to assure that the water you're drinking is exactly what comes out of the ground, but that's not remotely the case with Perrier. *sniff*)

[trickofthedark.livejournal.com]

Maybe you'd like your own kitchen sodastream machine. We've got one and its great.
Add your own syrup or juice (or nothing if you just like fizzy water.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodastream

[gromm.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I *hate* Perrier. And mineral water in general for that matter. In my brief stay in Paris, it was highly recommended that you drink it because the tapwater wasn't potable. And it tastes *vile*. Like warm tapwater that's been in the pipes too long, except with bubbles.

At least the wine was good. :)

[lovingboth]

A local shop has started advertising 'ethical [bottled] water'. As far as I'm concerned, that's where they give you a reused empty glass bottle and tell you to fill it from the tap.

Personally, I think Perrier tastes vile, but that's down to the mineral content. It's really odd that selling contaminated water is considered to be a good thing - "Hey, our stuff isn't pure, it has all sorts of stuff in..."