“If you think you have the best, put it to the test!” — is how Steve Levy, executive director of the Maine Rural Water Association, kicked off the group’s 27th annual drinking water taste test Thursday.
In the contest, community water supply agencies vie for the honor and “bragging rights” of having Maine’s best tasting public water supply.
Averaging around 40 entries per year, entrants are divided into two categories — water with a disinfectant and water without a disinfectant — and are judged in a preliminary taste test.
The North Berwick Water District won the title as Best Tasting Water with a Disinfectant while Point Sebago Resort won Best Tasting Water Without a Disinfectant.
The two then entered into a “taste off” between the categories, with Point Sebago Resort emerging victorious.
“The preliminary judges do a lot of the heavy lifting, ” Maine Rural Water Association Deputy Executive Director Kirsten Hebert said.
Scientific journals suggest we can feel water as it’s drunk. But it’s not yet clear whether we actually taste anything beyond trace elements.
Nonetheless, at Thursday’s competition, water samples were labeled with randomly assigned letters to maintain anonymity as they were evaluated, and each entrant was judged on its flavor, clarity and bouquet.
Yes, bouquet.
“As a judge, when you’re tasting water, you’re looking for the taste and if there is an aftertaste,” Hebert said. “You’re checking to see if it appears cloudy, or heaven forbid, for anything floating in it. You’re also judging the bouquet to see if you can smell any disinfectant,” she said.
The entrants are whittled down after the first round and then face the final judgement.
This year’s judges were Josh Hambrick, chef at Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine in Freeport; Nancy Beardsley, director of the Maine CDC Division of Environmental Health; and Melanie Clark, 14, a student at Carrabec Community School in North Anson and self-designated “water snob.”
Hebert said most water systems that enter have no idea if they have entered a winner or not.
“You get used to the taste of your own drinking water,” she said.
“It’s great to see the judges’ expressions. Sometimes they say, ‘Wow, thats really refreshing,’ and other times they twinge like they’re wondering why they’re tasting that water at all.”
A first-time winner, Point Sebago Resort has competed every year since the water tasting’s inception.
“Point Sebago, after years of losing, keeps on trying,” Levy announced with gusto. “This is like Rocky!”
The water tasting is the brainchild of Levy — a Brunswick native — designed to raise awareness of small water districts.
The event is part of the Richmond-based Maine Rural Water Association’s annual conference, which attracted more than 500 water utility personnel to the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport.
Water tasting competitions have proliferated; an annual event now occurs in every state. These culminate in The Great American Water Taste Test in Washington, D.C., in February.
In addition to being awarded the title of Maine’s best tasting water, Point Sebago Resort will represent Maine in the national contest.
rgargiulo@timesrecord.com
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