Historic New York Seltzer Company Cashing In On Sparkling Water Craze
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The hottest new trend in beverages has actually been around for centuries. With a renewed focus on healthy eating and drinking, sparkling water sales in the U.S. have skyrocketed in recent years.
The renewed love for sparkling water has meant big things for New York's only seltzer company, which fills its own bottles and hand delivers them to 600 customers across four boroughs.
"It's nostalgic. It's Brooklyn. It's New York," Alex Gomberg of Brooklyn Seltzer Boys said. "I have seltzer in my blood. It's in my soul."
The Gomberg family's factory in Canarsie has turned making seltzer into an art form. "We take NYC tap water and triple filter it. It goes through sand, charcoal and paper," Gomberg told CBS2's Jessica Moore.
"Once the seltzer is actually made in here it goes up these tubes right here and right into one of two filling machines."
The real secret lies in 100-year-old glass bottles the company has collected over the decades and are no longer made. The empty bottles are picked up, washed, and refilled for the next customer.
"When you get a case delivered you're getting history," Gomberg added.
"It's nice to know a few things are still left from the past they're still chugging along," Esther Goodman of Park Slope said. Brooklyn Seltzer Boys delivers their sparkling water to homes and restaurants for $40 per case including delivery.
Americans will buy an estimated 821 million gallons of sparkling water this year; nearly triple the amount in 2008.
Gomberg says his company is in the seltzer business for the long haul. His customers add that as long as the Seltzer Boys are delivering, they'll be buying.
