The Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting is the most prestegious water tasting in the world. Held annual at The Country Inn in the historic spa town of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, it is the largest and longest-running water tasting in the world, dubbed “The Academy Awards of Water.”

The 2027 competition will feature five categories: Municipal Water, Bottled Non-Carbonated Water, Purified Drinking Water, Bottled Sparkling Water and the People’s Choice Package Design Award.

A new scoring system introduced in 2022 follows the familiar 100-point model used by leading wine publications, including Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast. The first-place water in each tasting category receives a perfect score of 100, with remaining entries ranked accordingly.

Participants who attend the event in person will also have opportunities to network with water professionals from around the world, exchange industry knowledge and participate in the event’s Friday’s seminar, “Water: Beneath the Surface and Around the Globe,” exploring issues and developments shaping the global water industry.

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Beneath the Surface and Around the Globe

“Beneath the Surface and Around the Globe” is our annual free seminar on the first day of the event created to address industry issues in an in-depth manner.  We bring together expert panelists from within the industry.  Discussions include water conservation, water bottling, and more.  Join us this year on Friday, February 26, 2027, at The Country Inn of Berkeley Springs.  If you are unable to attend in person you can livestream this event on our Youtube.

Berkeley Springs, West Virginia

The Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting is held at The Country Inn of Berkeley Springs, in the center of downtown Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.  The historic resort town home to the historic warm mineral springs in Berkeley Springs State Park.

(excerpted from “Taking the Waters“ – Jeanne Mozier)

Scattered for hundreds of miles along the fault-ridden foothills of the Blue Ridge are a series of thermal springs. This series of springs forms a belt of heat loss running along the eastern edge of the mountains. Current geologic theory claims the hot or warm temperature of specific springs is caused by a combination of the water’s depth, and the time the water spends underground within rock passages.

The warm mineral springs, now known as Berkeley Springs, have historically been the most noted of this series. Samuel Kerchival, in his celebrated 19th century work, A History of the Valley of Virginia, elevates the warm springs at Bath to paramount position labeling them the “most ancient watering place in the Valley.”

Obeying a worldwide pattern, the local springs are connected with disturbances in the geologic structure of the area, uncommon disturbances caused by natural forces which twist and “wrench” the rocks.

Warm Springs Ridge, a section of Cacapon Mountain, stretches north/south through the center of Morgan county. Water from major streams, such as the Cacapon River on the western side of the ridge, together with water from rainfall, is filtered down through the hard but permeable rock, deep into the ridge. There it moves through fault-directed fractures in Oriskany sandstone and carbonate rock that take on the appearance of an extensive and surrealistic piping system. The unique rock arrangement acts as natural filtration and source of the minerals found in the springs. One theory postulates that moving slowly through this aquifer, the water is heated by the depth of the earth, percolating naturally to the surface as bubbling warm water.

The water conducted through Warm Springs ridge, emerges only in a single cluster of thermal springs now located in Berkeley Springs State Park. Copious, “ye famed warm springs” have gushed from five principal sources and several lesser ones at the rate of 1000-2000 gallons per minute for as long as the flow has been measured. The 74°F temperature of the water is constant.

To protect them from surface pollution, two of the major springs have been enclosed. Others seep through to stone pools along the west side of the park, a natural setting similar to that enjoyed by native tribes and colonial visitors.

In myriad writings about the waters, they are uniformly described as clear and bright. Content analysis shows carbonates, sulphates and nitrates predominate among the minerals of the water, with magnesium carbonate the most abundant. These minerals give the water its trademark alkalinity and hardness. Carbonic gases are also present, and more oxygen than in other of the principal thermal springs along the Blue Ridge.

Getting the Message Out

The Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting has generated much interest in the water industry through feature articles in major publications and networks across the nation and the world. The event has been featured on NPR, BBC, MSNBC, FOX News Network, CNN, and USA Today.  Take a deeper look at our media.

We wish to thank our supporters:
The 2026 Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting was presented by the Town of Bath and Berkeley Springs Water Works in partnership with Travel Berkeley Springs. It is supported by major sponsors Peak Health of West Virginia and WV River’s Coalition, and a grant from Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area.

Program

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