3 minute read
It’s Smooth Sipping for Aldie Water
It’s Smooth Sipping for Aldie Water
By Leonard Shapiro
The Little River Runs right through the teeny-tiny village of Aldie, just a few miles east of Middleburg down Route 50, but that’s not the water you’ll be guzzling if you happen to purchase a 16-ounce bottle of “Aldie Water” now available in only a very few select locations.
And all in Aldie, of course.
“It’s Smooth,” reads the label on the bottle, a quote from a very satisfied Loudoun County water system supervisor and an expert on all things H2O. He recently sampled the water and said just that.
“Hey, it’s smooth.”
The man who is starting to put the smooth water in those bottles is none other than serial entrepreneur Tucker Withers, a long-time area resident, founder and owner with his wife Mary Ann of Aldie’s Little River Inn, and known to most locals as the town’s unofficial mayor.
You can get Aldie Water at the Inn, and it soon will be available by the case or the individual bottle at Mary Ann’s shop, Mercer Tavern Antiques, across the street from the Withers’ residence. It’s $2 a bottle or $50 for a case of 25.
The water comes from an artesian well on their property. They’ve had access to the well water for years, have used it to fill their pool (32,000 gallons) and it flows right into a little house Tucker and Mary Ann built close by their own front door for their adult children and grandchildren and the more than occasional poker game. Beer was the liquid of choice on poker nights, of course, but Aldie Water is on tap as well, you might say.
Tucker is something of a water expert himself as the elected president of the Aldie Water Company, a nonprofit that hydrates 40 Aldie homes, several local businesses and the Episcopal church. That water comes from springs on nearby Bull Run Mountain and is treated with just a tiny touch of Clorox, Tucker said. Newly bottled Aldie Water goes from artesian well to spigot to bottle with no touch of anything, and then sealed tight.
“I took it to a lab for testing over in Warrenton,” Tucker said, “and we got back a great report. It’s really good water.”
Then came a similar testimonial—“it’s smooth”—from the county water man, and before long Tucker was doing the bottling himself. He’s had some experience. Back when his daughter, Lilly, now 34, was eight, they made and sold “Lilly’s Lemonade.” Tucker had purchased 5,000 bottles, but after a few years, he and Lilly soured on making lemonade and stopped, but he kept the bottles.
These days, he’s mostly relying on word of mouth to spread the Aldie Water message. He’s also been donating cases to several local events, including a recent “Bizz Buzz” meeting of the Middleburg Business and Professional Association. Tucker said the reviews from that gathering also were favorable, as expected. After all, it’s smooth.
Details: www.aldie.com
