My paternal grandfather, Benjamin Letowsky, owned a seltzer route in Brooklyn from the 1930s to the mid-1940s. My uncle, Jack Letowsky followed in his footsteps and probably was in business until mid-1950s. I recall that their truck was their pride. The seltzer works they used was Brooklyn based, but I can't recall the name. The bottles had the name LETOW etched on to them and were, of course, manufactured in Czechoslovakia. They were mostly blue and white with a few green mixed in. I have only 1 or 2 of them in my possession for memory. If I recall correctly they also sold Cott's soda and U-bet syrups. They frequently complained of sore shoulders and bad backs and had helpers until the seltzer business started to fade. To this day there is no substitute for the real thing - a siphon freshly filled! Norman D. Letow, NYC

The video comes in multiple sections, so as one part ends the next will begin. It is around 40 minutes. It will look better on the web if you view it here.

Beneath the video jukebox you will find the powerpoint of my presentation, so you can follow along, if you like (the audio and videos slides, however, won't work, but you can read the text).

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Seltzer: The Next Big Soft Drink? December 17, 2007

By any other name, seltzer could become the next big thing in soft drinks. It's carbonated, has no calories, often has no sodium and tastes good, at least to some people. Sounds like a dream product for the cola giants, doesn't it?

But seltzer has been an also-ran for decades. Adorning the bottom shelves of supermarkets, seltzer is often purchased to mix with alcohol or not at all.

The truth is, many consumers, raised on sugary sodas, looked at seltzer and its twin, club soda, as a sub-standard soft drink belonging to another time.

"It is just water and air. It's so elemental it just drifts into the background," said Barry Joseph, a self-styled seltzer historian and founder of GiveMeSeltzer.com. But seltzer may be ready for its close-up. Most of the best-selling soft drinks like Coca-Cola, Pepsi and others have been in decline for years. Meanwhile, bottled water sales have gushed. That's because of what water doesn't have: preservatives, high fructose corn syrup and caffeine.

This affords the same opportunity for seltzer. "It works because you don't have to miss the experience of soda," said Joseph. "Seltzer cleanses the palette and eases digestion. Water can't do that—seltzer can."

Unlike the latest energy drink, seltzer also has a glorious history to draw upon, starting in 1772 when British inventor and philosopher Joseph Priestley published a paper documenting how to impregnate water with carbon dioxide. Priestley also posited that immersion in the new product could stop corpses from decomposing. Later on, the British added seltzer machines to their navy vessels because they thought it cured scurvy.

The name seltzer was borrowed from the town Nieder-Selters, Germany, where natural carbonated spring water was bottled. Prior to its mass production, kings and queens would come to Nieder-Selters to sample the drink in the early 18th century. According to Joseph, this made the "keeper of the spring" position the most sought after in all the land. Applicants were said to have sometimes fought and/or murdered one another for the privilege.

Today, no one is killing anyone to get a seltzer. The mixer category (including ginger ale) accounts for 2.5% of carbonated beverages, per Beverage Digest, Bedford Hills, N.Y. Sprite alone sells more than twice that. Why?

"The concept of no calories and artificial sweetener is appealing, however the taste can be a turnoff," said one consumer.

This consumer tried the drink because a good friend who was staying with her quit drinking diet cola. "She insisted on drinking seltzer to promote her healthier lifestyle."

Admittedly, the consumer only tried one store brand. Three-quarters of mixer category sales are dominated by no-name, private label brands. The other quarter is a mix of Canada Dry, Schweppes, Seagram and Vintage. So there is no one premier seltzer brand that focuses on great taste. But taste isn't seltzer's only selling point. It's also pretty cheap and inarguably healthy.

"It is well positioned in regards to health and wellness, but that has not translated into a sales increase," said Gary Hemphill, managing director of Beverage Marketing, New York. "It has been overshadowed by other segments in terms of marketing dollars and exposure."

A case however could be made that if seltzer were a brand new product it would thrive. But old associations may limit its appeal. The name, for instance, still reeks of New York's Lower East Side, where it was embraced (along with deli meats) by a predominantly Jewish population.

In the '30s, marketers addressed the issue by renaming seltzer club soda, which had more of a WASPy feel. "Club soda has no working class associations," said Joseph. "Seltzer is a culturally defined word." Like vaudeville, seltzer did not fare well in the modern age. In the '60s, the younger Jewish generation "saw it as something for the previous generation. They were embarrassed by it," Joseph said. But now the pendulum may finally be swinging back.

Still, Beverage Digest editor John Sicher has doubts about potential growth. "People are gravitating heavily towards water, sports drinks and enhanced waters," he said.

But those so-called functional drinks may be edging out the only truly functional one on the shelf. In addition to being a refreshing drink, seltzer can help lift stains out of fabrics.

You can't get more functional than that.

Yet today I was contacted by a magazine for "a seltzer quote," received a lovely email (below) from a self-defined seltzerman and, to my amazement, am giving the following talk on Long Island next month at North Shore Synagogue:

Seltzer

Wednesday, January 9 -
7:30 PM

Barry Joseph

Barry Joseph set out on a search for the details of the history of seltzer some five years ago. The Jewish Forward published his initial article on seltzer and he was heard at the Limmud Conference at Kutshers three years ago. The guy is a delight, and he has an uncanny resemblance to one of the chairs of the Committee for Lifelong Learning.

What's amazing to me is that this is the synagogue where I grew up. I will be speaking in the very room where I was Bar Mitzvahed.

Perhaps it should not be TOO surprising - my dad runs the program! - but still...

Should be fun. I will try to record it and post it as a podcast.

I found your website - not sure if i have any stories but i was a seltzerman - a real one -

my family started in Asbury Park NJ - 1906 - we filled and distributed seltzer - real seltzer trucks.

of course Fox's U-bet Choc syrup also distributed dr browns celray, Hammer Beverages.

Bought seltzer bottles from Bronx Siphon Supplies - if you have any questions about seltzer.

maybe I may have interesting insight.

Hope to hear from you.

Morton Popok - many times I called out seltzerman!

by the way seltzer is in my blood

Wasn't that lovely. In a follow-up email her reported:

have you been to a seltzer station Gomberg? at one time all the ny seltzermen had their bottles filled their - I of course did not because we filled are own bottles - at one time we use the single foot machine that you have pictured on your site - one bottle at a time, then we found a automatic syphon filler - it must have been 50 years old - schlepped it back to the jersey shore - it was heavy - came from downtown Pitt Street.

I had heard that he was buried in Brooklyn's famous Greenwood Cemetery and that the site was decorated with some etchings related to seltzer production.

This fall I finally made a visit and learned two things:
- his tomb is tremendous!
- I could not identify anything remotely resembling seltzer manufacturing (if you can, please let me know)

It was immensely fascinating for a tomb, even if I was not already interested in the man, and I had a great time checking it out.

Check out the photos by clicking on the one below:

November 3, 2006 Despite hunger, exhaustion and beatings of employees at the hands of gangs hired by their bosses, the ongoing strike of the Union of Mineral Water Workers is holding fast and is as strong as iron. As of yet, not one worker has broken ranks with the strikers. The strike could be settled in a matter of days, if the bosses and shops would simply accept the union and allow their workers to join it. Until then, the Forward requests that its readers not drink any seltzer unless it has the union label on the bottle. Without the union label, you’ll be drinking bloody seltzer!

and

Sep 15, 2006 100 Years Ago in the forward East Broadway seltzer vendor Henry Mittleman was blown to bits last week after a seltzer tank exploded in the basement of his store. Mittleman, who was working just a few feet from the tank, was thrown more than 20 feet by the blast. After he arrived at the hospital, it was determined that both his legs were broken in a number of places and that he suffered severe internal injuries. He died just an hour after admittance. Ironically, Mittleman had just completed a deal with the Mineral Water Workers Union and had an appointment to meet with them this week.

When I listened to it for the first time I thought, Damn, this guy knows a lot about seltzer! Is that really me? How did I learn so much about something SO esoteric in one and a half years?

If you are visiting Give Me Seltzer for the first time, welcome! Check out the previous podcasts, read some blog entries, and be sure to enter your email address below so you can be notified about the project.