The Story of Ava Bottling Company

The story of Ava Bottling Company begins in 1936, deep in the Missouri Ozarks, in the small town of Ava.

That year, the Carnation Company established a milk plant in Ava and drilled an industrial well more than 900 feet beneath the Ozark Mountains. The well was built to provide the enormous amount of water necessary to operate what would become one of the most significant milk-processing operations in the country.

What Carnation found beneath the ground was remarkable: an abundant source of naturally mineralized Ozark water, with the well reportedly capable of producing approximately 250 gallons per minute.

At the time, however, the water wasn't the product.
Milk was.

When farmers arrived at Carnation and emptied their milk containers, many didn't return home empty.

They filled them with water.

They wanted the water from the deep Carnation well. Long before there was an AVA brand, a label or a marketing campaign, the farmers knew something about the water beneath the plant. It simply tasted good—and there was plenty of it. So they carried it home to their families and farms.

The stories surrounding the old well go even further. For generations, families throughout the Ava area have passed down stories of the drought years—times when ponds dried up, wells struggled and dependable water became one of the most valuable resources a family or farm could have.

According to those stories, the water beneath the Carnation plant kept flowing. People came to Ava for it. Some traveled great distances, and old-timers told stories of people coming from beyond Missouri during particularly severe droughts to take water back home. They filled whatever they could carry and returned to their families, farms and livestock with water drawn from deep beneath the Ozarks.

These weren't stories created for advertising. They were passed around kitchen tables and from one generation to the next by people who remembered what dependable water meant when there wasn't enough of it.

Whether it was being used inside one of America's largest milk operations, carried home in an empty milk container, or shared during a dry year, the same truth kept resurfacing:

Decades later, local businessman Danny Fish purchased the former Carnation property. His plan wasn't to bottle water. In fact, water wasn't really part of the plan at all.

Then, during a card game, an old story resurfaced. A friend asked Danny a simple question:

“Do you know about the well?”

That question would help change the future of the property. The old stories began coming back—the Carnation well, the farmers filling their containers before returning home, the incredible amount of water beneath the property and the reputation that water had developed among generations of local families.

They found the well. Then they did perhaps the most important thing they could do. They tested the water.

The results supported what generations of Ozark farmers had already believed. There was something special beneath Ava. The water contained naturally occurring minerals, had a naturally favorable pH and, perhaps most importantly to anyone taking the first drink, had an exceptionally clean and distinctive taste.

The idea soon became obvious:

This water should be bottled.

The well had originally been drilled because Carnation needed water to make another product. Now, generations later, people were beginning to realize that perhaps the water was the treasure all along.

AVA water comes from the deep underground aquifer accessed by the historic well on the property—not from the surface spring also located there.

More than 900 feet beneath the Ozarks, the water interacts naturally with the geology that makes this region unique. The result is AVA's natural light mineral water.

The naturally occurring mineral content gives AVA its character, while its naturally favorable pH and smooth, refreshing taste are characteristics that generations of people have appreciated.

AVA isn't about taking ordinary water and manufacturing a mineral profile to make it something different.

The minerals are already there.
The character is already there.
The taste is already there.

Our responsibility is to protect what nature created. Modern quality-control, sanitation and bottling technology allow Ava Bottling Company to protect the integrity of the source while delivering that water safely and consistently to consumers.

We don't believe great water needs to be invented. Sometimes you simply have to go deep enough to find it.

In 1936, Carnation drilled deep beneath the Ozark Mountains because it needed dependable, high-quality water to operate a plant that helped supply food to families across America.

Farmers discovered the water and carried it home. During difficult years, stories tell of families traveling great distances to get it. Generations remembered it. An old story told over a card game helped rediscover it. A forgotten industrial plant was brought back to life because of it.

And today, Ava Bottling Company is investing in the people, equipment and technology necessary to share it with an entirely new generation.

The equipment has changed. The bottles have changed. The name on the building has changed. But the source remains.

For Matt and Kara, continuing that tradition carries a responsibility. Their vision is to grow Ava Bottling Company while protecting the quality of its water, honoring the history of the property and continuing the nearly century-old tradition of supplying high-quality water to American families.

Not just today. For generations to come.