The Amazing Dedication of the Remaining New York City Seltzer Delivery Men

Great Big Story spoke with Walter Backerman, a dedicated third-generation seltzer man of New York City who recounts his own story of growing up the son of a seltzer man, the remarkable history of seltzer, the equipment used for seltzer, the importance of having a place like Gomberg Seltzer Works to fill his canisters and what delivering seltzer means to him.

You hold that seltzer bottle and you hold history, you hold memories, you hold an object of beauty. …As long as the machine is fixed and I have a place to fill, I can’t see any reason why this business should be a nail-in-the-coffin situation where it’s over. It won’t be over until the last bottle of seltzer has been squirted and I don’t see that as being any time soon.