While SeltzerFest 2025 has concluded, you can watch the livestream of the event here. More formal videos and photos to follow.
Brooklyn SeltzerFest 2025 celebrated everything related to (non-alcoholic) seltzer water and related effervescent topics, an event filled with vendors, activities, dynamic presenters, music, and exciting competitions.
Quick Event Recap
Our one-of-a-kind celebration of all things seltzer was a sold-out event, with more than 600 tickets sold days in advance.
A major highlight of the festival was the highly anticipated National Egg Cream Invitational, sponsored by Fox’s U-bet. After last year's victory by Philadelphia's Franklin Fountain, the coveted Golden Siphon has returned to New York City, with The Brooklyn Farmacy of Carroll Gardens claiming the championship title!
The winners of the competitions are as follows:
Egg Cream Invitational:
- Golden Siphon Champion: Brooklyn Pharmacy (Brooklyn, NY)
- Runner-ups:
- Best Performance: Sammy’s Romanian Steak House (New York, NY)
- Best Presentation: S&P Lunch (New York, NY)
- Best Tasting (Artisanal): Hank Schwartz’s Deli & Appetizing (Jersey City, NJ)
- Best Tasting (Classic): Lofty Pursuits (Tallahassee, FL)
The inaugural SeltzerFest Seltzer Awards also celebrated the best in bubbly:
SeltzerFest Winners:
- SeltzerFest All-around Champion: Vintage
- The People’s Fizz Award: Le Seltzer (Montreal, Canada)
- Runner’s up:
- Best Testing Seltzer: Spindrift
- Most Unique Flavors: Kirkland Sparkling
- Sharpest Bite: Topo Chico
The return of the Golden Siphon to Brooklyn marks a triumphant moment for the local seltzer community and its deep historic roots in New York City.
The Main Stage at Brooklyn SeltzerFest 2025 offered other programming as well. The day began with an "Opening Spritz," adopting a baseball season tradition as passed through the Three Stooges. That was followed by "Fizzing into the Future–The Next Generation of Jewish Bubbly," presented by The Neighborhood: An Urban Center for Jewish Life, a panel conversation and live demonstration exploring the history and future of carbonated Jewish beverages. The first Spirit of Eli Award award, named after seltzer man Eli Miller (called the "sultan of seltzer" by the NYTimes), was presented to Walter Backerman, seltzer delivery man extraordinaire. The musical program offered live Yiddish seltzer-themed Klezmer music, presented by The Workers Circle (the Seltzer Klezmer Spritz-tacular).
At the visitor booths, attendees experienced a wide range of "fizzy fun". They could enjoy seltzer tastings from numerous global and local brands, such as La Croix, Le Seltzer, Kirkland Sparkling, Spindrift, Vintage, Liquid Death, Hal’s New York, San Pellegrino, Saratoga Sparkling Water, Waterloo, Polar, Perrier, and many more. There were also opportunities to sample classic Brooklyn food pairings, with vendors like Peter Pan Donuts and U-Bet's chocolate syrups present. BagelUp offered an interactive bagel experience. The booths featured engaging hands-on activities, including family-friendly egg cream workshops and seltzer-themed water-color painting. The Brooklyn Seltzer Museum booth allowed visitors to explore 2,400 years of seltzer history through games, puzzles, art, and antique machinery. The Workers Circle hosted a seltzer carnival with games and prizes. There was also The Flavored Seltzer Challenge, a blind taste test to see if participants could guess more flavors than others
WHERE WAS BROOKLYN SELTZERFEST?
Five Two A Event
Space
33 35th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11232
WHERE IS BROOKLYN SELTZERFEST?
Five Two A Event
Space
33 35th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11232
Brooklyn SeltzerFest is produced by the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum, a new non-profit cultural institution dedicated to preserving and promoting the effervescent history of seltzer water.
Located within the oldest seltzer works in New York City—a local, family-run business now in its fourth generation—the Museum celebrates the manufacturing of seltzer, the science of seltzer, and seltzer as a cultural force in New York City and the world beyond.
EXPLORE THE WORLD OF SELTZER
For National Egg Cream Day on March 15th, 2024, before a sold out audience, the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum hosted soda jerks from the best soda fountains in New York City’s five boroughs and beyond.
They competed in The 2024 National Egg Cream Invitational to settle the argument on how to make the best egg cream once and for all.
The grand prize winner of the Golden Siphon was won by the Franklin Fountain, a classic soda shop from Philadelphia. Shocking the local New York City crowd, they took home the gold plated seltzer siphon and claimed the title of best egg cream in the nation.
In 2025, who will win the Golden Siphon? Will it return to New York or remain outside the Big Apple?