No joke, actually, its pretty good straight out of the tap. A blend of Sierra mountain water courtesy of the Hetch-Hetchy aqueduct, plus local deep-sand wells. I've been brewing 10 months, all extract with some specialty grains. I've got a go-to brown ale, and have experimented recently with a tasty dry ale and currently have a Stout in primary. I've enjoyed the BN shows so far, especially the ones with Jamil (although I disagree that secondary fermendation is not required for ales!).
I post on rec.crafts.brewing as well.
