This sexy swim star will continue swimming, but our Australian Whales will not, help us stop the Japanese killing our whales.

visit www.ozbevnet.com

420 Below Spring Water

Confused, so are the tongues of the Decanter magazine judging panel. They ranked tap water (Thames river) number three out of 25 of the most expensive bottled water brand names.

Via: theamblerfamily.com

Below the tap water sat New Zealand’s 420 Volcanic Spring Water. The same water that has struck gold on the world stage winning two top awards at the prestigious bottledwaterworld design awards in Italy.

The river water also outranked  Evian, Bling H20 and Fiji.

Fancy pricing for marketing psychology.

420 Volcanic Spring Water costs around US$43 a bottle.

Unfortunately no Australian Spring water made the list, I am assuming we are currently charging more for our minerals than our spring water. If it is a consolation a fellow Kiwi took out top spot which puts faith back in the
marketing psychology of Artesian Spring Water in a bottle.

The list.

Waiwera – New Zealand £9/litre (Claridge’s)
Vittel – France 59p/1.5litres (Tesco)
Thames tap water - £0.09918/litre
Iskilde – Denmark £9/litre (Claridge’s)
10 Thousand BC – British Columbia £15/75cl
Fiji – Fiji £1/33cl
Speyside Glenlivet – Scotland £5.50/75cl (Claridge’s)
OGO – The Netherlands £6/33cl (Claridge’s)
Aqua Deco – Canada £15/75cl
Lauquen – Argentina £9/75cl (Claridge’s)
Aqua Panna – Italy £6/75cl (Claridge’s)
Antipodes New Zealand £9/litre (Claridge’s)
TyNant – Wales £1.29/75cl
Finé – Japan £15/72cl (Claridge’s)
Evian – France 70p/2litres (Tesco)
Tau – Wales £5/75cl (Claridge’s)
Solé – Italy £5.50/75cl (Claridge’s)
420 Volcanic – New Zealand £21/42cl (Claridge’s)
Veen – Finland £3.85/litre
Volvic – France 55p/litre (Tesco)
Karoo – South Africa £3/litre
Bling H₂0 – USA £20/50cl
Glaciana – Norway £9/50cl
IPC Media filtered tap water – free

A little about 42 BELLOW the makers of 420 Volcanic:

"42 BELOW uses GM free wheat from the purest fields in the world and water from a volcanic spring that achieves the highest purity rating possible - AA. 42 BELOW is distilled near a world benchmark for air purity, 42 degrees below the equator. Distilled four times, the spirit is then ‘washed’ in spring water reducing the level of alcohol to 6%. This cleans away any remaining impurities. It is then distilled a fifth time to create totally pure spirit. This ‘high saturation’ distilling in New Zealand spring water is unique to 42 BELOW. The spirit then passes through 35 filters to create a very smooth vodka."

Australian Boutique Beer

Stumbled across a beer blog by an Australian who is on a journey of reviewing beers produced in boutique breweries.

I just wished more Aussies reviewed the boutique non alcoholic beverages, it would spice up my world.

CASCADE FIRST HARVEST BEER

"Cascade First Harvest is the only brew of any kind in Australia brewed using fresh green hops. Once a year, at the first harvest of hops in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley, we hand select new hop varieties to brew a single batch of super fresh, super premium beer. Within hours of harvesting, the dew soaked, green hops are combined with new season pale malt, Cascade’s exclusive yeast and the purest Tasmanian water. The result is a limited edition handcrafted ale with a full malt character and a delightful fruity finish and prominent herbaceous aromas."

Got the chance to sample this new entrant to the Australian market. I was reflecting on how may new products were launched in the USA (sigh), something like a thousand NEW non-alcoholic beverages are introduced. So if the population of the USA is 301,139,947 (July 2007 est.), then the launch rate for Australia should be like 70 new launches a year. The theory looks good on paper but the reality is another story in another post..

Will we ever see the landscape change from Coca Cola, Pepsi and Schewppes? I doubt it, the non alcoholic drinks sector is the biggest ironic, superficial, plastic fantastic tit job going around in Australia.

We have the top end of town portraying Coca Cola, Pepsi and Schewppes products as super premium, super quality, super duper, ants pants bla, bla, bla. Have a look at the Melbourne Cup to see the hypocrisy, same products are served in the carpark as they are served for the super rich corporate tents.

They say marketing today is all about about the physcolgical reward and thats how they price a product accordingly.

Coca Cola, Pepsi and Schewppes fridges are an eye sore, they stick out like an albino Tasmanian Devil on Rottnest Island.

So why are these Coca Cola, Pepsi and Schewppes fridges and products found in the food areas of micro breweries? Where is the logic, how does the boutique experience apply to the mass produced non alcholic foreign experience? Can the marketing dollars of Coca Cola, Pepsi and Schewppes override logic and domestic competitors marketing attempts?

It makes no sense how micro breweries are exploding in Australia and you have these Australian yobbos in the media tallking arty farty about the characteristics of what makes micro brews so special and unique, bla, bla , bla. Yet when it comes to the non alcoholic drinks side, you see and hear them worshipping a coke or some other sugarless tasteless, inferior piss product from the Coca Cola, Pepsi and Schewppes stable.

A decade ago, if you had asked an Aussie to name their favourite brew, the answer would probably have been VB, Tooheys or XXXX. How things have changed. In recent years, a new brand of brewery has emerged in Australia. Small commercial breweries (known as microbreweries) are popping up across the country, challenging the existing trend of mass-produced beer, and slowly reinvigorating the collective imagination of Aussie beer guzzlers.

travelaustralia.ninemsn.com.au

So who is challenging the existing trend of mass-produced non alcoholic drinks, and slowly reinvigorating the collective imagination of non alcoholic drink guzzlers? Nutrient water by Nutrient Water Pty. Ltd. in Victoria.

I had a meeting up in Malaga, Western Australia and stopped by a local deli run by an Asian family who have the courage to stock some new products besides the tit enhanced Coca Cola, Pepsi and Schewppes stable.

On the lower levels, out of the important eye level shelf, lay a lonley few newish Nutrient Water bottles.

I selected the flavor Passionfruit Citrus due to the "sexual connotation" on the label.

Directions: Mix with individuals displaying symptons of tiredness, fatigue or severe procrastination.

Warning Excess consumption may result in the desmise of alarm clocks, motivational speakers, personal

trainers, and phrases like"not tonight honey, I’m too tired ."

It tasted ok, nothing spectacular in the taste department, but better tasting than Gatorade as for the performance test, my honey was not home. Use your imagination, my fellow Aussie non alcoholic drink guzzlers.

"The coca leaf is legal for Coca-Cola and illegal for medicinal purposes in our country and in the whole world,"

Bolivian President Evo Morales told the U.N. General Assembly last year.