‘Best in the world’: SA brand ready to make a splash overseas
A South Australian company is hoping to end years of ridicule about the state’s drinking water quality, claiming it has unearthed “the best water in the world” — with plans to share its product globally.
A South Australian-based mineral water company with “nothing else like it in the world” is ready to make waves in international markets after launching only a few months ago.
Carribie Water owners Damien Smith and wife Gretchen first found the natural water source on their Yorke Peninsula property near Daly Head about 20 years ago, saying they were pleasantly surprised from first taste.
“The running joke in South Australia is how bad the water is. The irony is, arguably, we’ve got the most amazing water in the world and that’s from Carribie on the bottom of the Yorke Peninsula,” Damien says.
Damien, who has more than two decades of experience working in the wine industry, compares the taste, mineral structure and terroir of Carribie water to that of a fine wine.
“When we first tasted it, we were taken aback by this mouth feel and this sweet creaminess and the ability for this water to actually move across front, mid and back palate,’ Damien says.
The property owners quickly had the water tested by an expert following the first discovery of the aquifer that was home to freshwater yabbies despite being close to the ocean.
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“We went and had the water tested by an engineer who described the water as a unicorn,” Damien tells CityMag.
“The pristine nature of the water, but then too, the mineral profile and the balance of the mineral profile, he said it’s really unique and there’s almost nothing like it in the world.
“Nature has been very kind to us.”
Carribie recently featured at this year’s annual Fine Water Summit in Montreal, where expert water sommeliers rated Carribie’s still water a perfect 100 points and sparkling water a near-perfect 99 points based on taste and mineral profile.
The unique location of the water and the centuries of natural filtration, Damien says, contribute to Carribie’s distinctive qualities.
“Because we’re so close to the water, the sea spray comes across and then that is filtered through all those ancient marine sands and through limestone,” he says.
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“That helps give Carribie that key descriptor of sweetness and creaminess. It’s almost the ultimate filtration experiment that Mother Nature has done for us.”
The Carribie owner says the business “hasn’t been a sprint” but has instead been a long-term project that launched at the ideal moment.
A global downturn in alcohol consumption and a loss in value of more than US$800 billion from the world’s leading alcohol companies over the past four years has contributed to Carribie’s success as many shift toward “premium” no alcohol options.
“There’s been a big movement in the global beverage atmosphere as well, which is quite timely for the project,” Damien says.
“The response in this space has been incredible because they’re also seeing a need for clientele to have something a little bit more special in the no or low alcohol area.”
After launching only a couple of months ago, Carribie has quickly taken off and secured distribution in global markets, with the company looking to export to Singapore, Thailand and Italy soon.
Some of Adelaide’s top restaurants have also jumped on the premium water bandwagon, with 2KW, Hentley Farm, Esmay and Restaurant Botanic reportedly planning to stock Carribie.
The Smelly Cheese Shop in the Adelaide Central market is also expected to stock the mineral water, while Carribie has been chosen as the main water for the Masters of Wine Symposium held in South Australia next April.
Damien says the next step will be developing a subscription model for people who “have a distrust for drinking Adelaide tap water” and want to make sure they are consuming “the very best” SA has to offer.
“We are very much targeting providores. Carribie is never going to be sold in plastic,” he says.
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