Monday, March 1, 2010

A Price Above Rubies

This year I served a drink for Purim Suedah that has to be one of the most expensive drinks, relatively, that I've ever served. I was gifted with beautiful cut crystal shnaps gleiselach when I got married and I used those to serve the drink. Truthfully, I needed the small glasses or everyone would not have gotten a taste, the amount of liquid in the bottle not being a large amount.

So, what drink did I serve? Well, I'll give you a little hint: it was imported from Norway. No, it wasn't Aqua Vit. And the bottle was tall and cylindrical in heavy glass. And my guests cracked up when I served it.

Last week, as class was letting out, one of my students asked me if I'd like a bottle of water--he had an extra. I said yes, thank you, and that's when the fun started. Voss water, imported from Norway, and selling for between $3-5 wholesale and $6 to $8 dollars retail for the bottle, containing only 12 ounces. With an OUP no less. Is it spring water? Nope, it's "artesian well water." One of the guests jokingly asked if you needed to make a shecheyanu on the drink--he's never had it before. You just never know when a bit of Purim fun is going to drop into your lap.

Oh yes, for those of you who believe that your pets should also be treated like kings, there is Voss imported Pet Water. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Just on a practical note: bottled spring water at 16.5 ounces per bottle, 32 bottles to the case, was on sale locally last week at $3.99 for the case. You do the math. And then please explain to me the concept of imported designer water.

9 comments:

Tuvi said...

A bottle of that Voss water showed up in one of the packaged shalach monos that we got. Even if the price was half what you say why would anyone spend that much on water? And to buy imported water when the US is hardly suffering a major countrywide drought?

Anonymous said...

I got that water in a gift bag for a bar mitzvah. I did kind of wonder...

Talia said...

I've got a friend who will only drink the Voss water. She claims that the plastic bottles leak all kinds of chemicals into the water but becauwse Voss is packaged in glass it's the only really pure water around. Tap water anyone?

Anonymous said...

it would be nice to have enough money to indulge something (excuse me here) quite that stupid.
tap water is fine with me. If your neighborhood has lousy water, put a filter on your faucet.

Trudy said...

Except for maybe marathons where runners haven't got other access to water I just don't get the whole bottled water idea.And water with a hechsher totally confounds me. But imported bottled hechshered water?! And if you were serious about the pet water, please tell me that there aren't people out there with that much stupid going that they give bottled water to their pets, never mind imported water.

Mystery Woman said...

My local kosher supermarket was selling them for a fraction of the wholesale price you quote. It's about the same price as those little bottles of grape juice, and a nice change, so why not use it for mishloach manos?

Knitter of shiny things said...

Is the pet water also hechshered?

Anonymous said...

According to the OU Knitter ALL Voss waters are under the OU, so that means the pet water too. If my zayde were still livng hearing about kosher for Pesach imported water for your pets just might have done him in. He was a truly frum Jew and for him this kind of shtick wasn't about being frum.

Lon said...

The OU must love that little racket. Kosher water?

Part of the appeal of Voss is the bottle. It looks cool.

If you don't like plastic, get a Klean Kanteen, like the rest of the world. It's more convenient than a heavy glass bottle and you can refill it from the tap. Three refills and you've broken even. If you filter your tap, it'll take a little longer.