My holy Grail of water bottles would be an all stainless steel bottle and lid, wide mouth, interior threads, made in USA? Is that too much to ask? Apparently so. Let me know if you find one.
I decided to give up on my 12oz WM Klean Kanteen with loop top for the following reasons:
1. To use design vocabulary, I think the lid sucks. It always drips water on me when I unscrew it, perhaps due to the flat stainless steel under the lid. The gasket molds easily, which tells me this is not an all stainless steel environment for your liquids. The gasket cannot be removed to be cleaned or replaced easily. Yes I believe in very low maintenance but I don't think many people wash their bottles every single day.
2. External threads on the bottle. Not fun to drink from. More nooks and crannies for mold to develop.
So I'm a little thirsty right now ( i drank water almost exclusively from that bottle) while I wait for the UPS truck ( I have a Pavlovian response when I hear a UPS truck in the neighborhood ) to bring my new bottle. I already know it's not perfect ( not made in USA, not wide mouth) but it may solve my other complaints.
We shall see.