Colin Barker, national chairman, BBI; Niamh Farrell, Tipperary Water brand manager; Peter Cooney, general manager, Tipperary Water cooler division, and Ed Binstead, president, BBI, at the London awards ceremony.

Cooneys' gold medals for bottled water business

Published: Wed 6 Jan 2010, 4:41 PM

Tipperary Natural Mineral Water, managed by the Kilmessan-domiciled Cooney family, has scooped two gold medals at the British Bottlers Institute (BBI) Awards in London. This brings the total since 1989 to an impressive seven gold medals. This highly prestigious BBI Competition for waters and soft drinks has been running since 1961 and there were entries from as far afield as Kenya. The BBI Gold Medal is awarded based on blind tastings and the panel consisted of seven judges, all based in the UK, and in the 'Natural Mineral Water Blind Tasting Class' they awarded Tipperary Water a gold medal, class A for its still water, and a gold medal in class B for its sparkling water. The awards ceremony took place at a gala dinner in Vintners' Hall in London. Marie Cooney, director, said: "We are proud once again as a family owned company to accept two more gold medals and we will continue to be active in producing a quality natural product at our source in Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary."