Alcademics

Category: water

  • What to Drink When You’re Not Drinking, According to Bartenders

    It's January, and maybe you're taking a break from drinking so much or maybe you've resolved to drink less. Here are some suggestions on what to drink instead. 

    I asked my bartender pals on Facebook what they drink when they're not drinking alcohol. I didn't expect 100 of them to reply! I put them into various categories mostly based on their first answer to the question. There are some conclusions at the end. It is very long. 

     

    JugWater! And Coconut Water

    It seems that people who like plain water also like herbal tea. 

    Daniel Castro of La Banane in  Toronto, Ontario:  Water. I'm getting older, I get migraines, and so looking after my health is #1. Herbal, peppermint tea is another go-to.

    John Lermayer, Sweet Liberty, Miami:  Alkaline water and green tea (together and separately)

    Paul Bradley of Dubai: Large amounts of water, St Clements, lashings of ginger beer. And coconut water

    Jabriel Donohue of Circadia, Seattle: Plain soda water, herbal tea, non alcoholic beer

     Robert Freeman of Sidecar in Jacksonville FL:  Acqua Panna with fresh squeezed lemon. 

     Charles Steadman: Mayim sparkling water and sencha tea from JoJo tea

    Nonna Titulauri of Hakkasan San Francisco: If I'm out but not drinking, if I'm at a restaurant bar, I either drink hot/cold tea or a coffee beverage. And if I'm at a single standing bar, I just drink water with no ice. I like to keep it simple. I often times go visit my friends after my shift at bars where they work and just have a glass of water. 

    Chris Grimm of Sugar & Olives, Norwalk, CT: I try to drink a couple of litres of water, during a shift. My non-alcoholic, non-water go-to is Pellegrino Pamplemousse. 

    Ricardo Albrecht: Coconut water

     

    1009066_157612477757223_1316551939_oTopo Chico Sparkling Water

    Mindy Kucan of Hale Pele Portland, OR: Topo Chico!!!! I always have a case of topo in my car! Iced tea- sometimes I sweeten it. Black tea, golden milk, and I make this coconut water-banana-cocoa powder-Hawaiian sea salt smoothie that does the trick. 

    Pamela Wiznitzer of Seamstress, NYC: Topo Chico when available. Otherwise, I drink loads of tea and very into matcha these days!

    Brad Bowden of Lounge Here Dallas, TX: Topo Chico for sure! HOLY Kombucha is up there on my go to list. 

    Donnie Pratt: Tap water, Topo Chico or Mountain Valley Springs and espresso 1000 Faces out of Athens, GA are my favorite.

    Stuart Humphries of The Pass & Provisions, Houston, TX: Topo Chico, a highly effervescent agua mineral hard to find outside of Mexico and Texas, goes great with everything, esp. tacos and hangovers

    Greg West: Topo all the way. Topo with hint of lime. So good.

    Cameron George: Topo chico and Ango.

    Kyle Zimmerman, Hutch on Avondale, Oklahoma City: Topo Chico with bitters and an orange slice. I feel like the minerality of topo really plays well with the bitters.

    Will Croxville: Topo Chico if possible, but if not just regular old seltzer water for me.

    Rich Heider II:  Topo Chico

     

     

    Sodas or Soda Water with Splashes of Something

    1449356763-spellegrinoPaul Russell of Hugo's, Portland Maine: Cinotto by San Pellegrino. Also, what I call the hydrito…an N/A mojito with a heavy hand of ango.

    Danny Ronen, Consultant: I go for effervescent with little to no sugar, so:  Perrier Grapefruit, Coconut water (preferably the one Robert Pallone has been working on for the past few years, it's so GD delicious and some of the lowest sugar content i've seen), Hot water, fresh lemon juice (neighbor's tree). 

    Tony Morandi of 900 wall/the Capitol. Bend OR: Coffee. Half soda water/half water. Tea is awesome mid day and night. Veggie based smoothies. Coconut water. But for special occasions, well made/ interesting sodas in limited quantities. Made a pineapple allspice soda the other day that was killer

    Jason Laidlaw of The Shameful Tiki Room, Vancouver: Water, splash of pineapple if I need an energy boost (and the opened can(s) of soda water at the end of the shift. Not at work: coconut water (no added sugar), kombucha, water.

    Travis St Germain of Clover Club, Brooklyn: Soda water lime juice and salt. 

    Matt Roberts of London: 1 lime, Mexican elbowed, pinch salt and soda water during service. Pot after pot of pu'erh tea helps keep the focus on line clean day too!

    Josey Packard of Bar Mezzana, Boston: I make a tamarind syrup that has brags vinegar in it, a no-sugar St John's "syrup," and a sarsaparilla syrup.

     Andy Griffiths:  Sparkling water with yuzu juice!

    Jamaal PatronJames Bowen:  Clayton's Kola Tonic, splash Ginger Ale and 4 dashes of Angostura Bitters for good measure

    Elliot Clark of Trick Dog, SF: Soda water, pineapple juice, and Peychauds bitters. 

    Alastair Burgess: Lemon, lime and bitters, actually available as a canned soft drink in the Caribbean. Other wise, ginger juice, lemon juice ango bitters and soda water.

    Kailee Asher of Counter Intuitive/Undertow in Phoenix AZ: I'm pregnant right now so no drinking for a while…  Clausthaler N/A beer, club soda and ango, dealer's choice N/A cocktail at a cocktail bar – had a really good smash at Otium in LA!

    Odd Strandbakken of Himkok, Oslo. Norway: soda, ice, grapefruit bitters and grapefruit zest!

    Francis Schott of Stage Left & Catherine Lombardi a restaurants, New Brunswick, NJ: Blenheim Ginger Ale (not-so-hot) out of the painted glass bottle (never plastic) or Elderflower syrup and soda. 2 oz in 6 oz seltzer- my favorite brand is Austrian by Nikolaihof. Elderflower syrup in German is Holunderblütensirup (available through Michael Skurnik Wines). Fun to drink – fun to say. I keep a bottle in my refrigerator at all times. 

    Zachary A. Evans: Fresh squeezed lemonade, ginger ale, and cran. Equal parts.

    Ole Buddrus: Technically speaking bitters contain alcohol, that aside my favorite is still ginger ale and angostura, preferably East Imperial.

    Ben Johnson of The Imperial Life, Asheville, NC: I find myself drinking a lot of Coke, or specialty soda in general. When I go out to eat or to a bar, my go to is almost always Peach Nehi soda if they've got it (and most places in Western North Carolina do). I'll also crush a soda water with lime after a long shift. And if I'm at a real dive, I'll generally go for a grapefruit juice (out of a can) and soda, as it looks more like a drink. There's really no reason to be at a dive bar if you're not drinking, so I find it best to mask it at these types of places. 

     

    Tonic Water, Modified

    East-imperial-tonicJacopo Rosito: 54 Mint, San Francisco: Cranberry, tonic, lime !

    Mike Henderson of Edible Beats (Root Down), Denver: Tonic, Lime, and Angostura Bitters. Preferably Q or Indi tonic.

    Jay Villafana of The Slanted Door, San Francisco: Grapefruit and Tonic

    Blair Frodelius. Mid-Century Lounge. Syracuse, NY: Fever-Tree Tonic water and a squeeze of lime, Orangina or Lavender Dry Soda all served on the rocks.

    Brian Means, Michael Mina Group: Seedlip and tonic is delicious!

    Tyler Fry:  Tonic on anything, especially grapefruit. Juices and tea. Chai-spiced cider.

    Jessi Mess, Absinthe, SF: grapefruit & tonic, sometimes with ango.

    Paul Mathew  of The Hide/The Arbitrager, London: House tonic syrup, orange bitters, squeeze of lime, soda, long w/lots of ice. And shots of 50:50 maple syrup and lime juice for a pick-me-up.

     

    Coffee, Please

    CoffeeFred Yarm of Loyal Nine in Boston: My number one nonalcoholic drink is coffee, hot and black, although I have no problem drinking it room temperature such as during a shift or if I have left overs from yesterday's pot. Otherwise, the majority of my nonalcoholic drinking consists of water either still or sparkling. And medicinally (besides its use for making Bucks and Mules), ginger beer such as a ginger-forward one like AJ Stephens is my go to.

    Adam Patrick K of Rothbard Ale & Larder, Westport, CT:  Bulletproof Coffee, tisanes, kombucha

    Tom Zyankali of Zyankali Bar, Berlin:  Café au laut with Vietnamese coffee

    Anthony DeSerio:  Coffee… lots and lots of coffee. Verners ginger ale when i can get it.

    Or Geshury: Espresso tonic. Cold brew from coconut water. Jasmine green speedballed with chamomile/peppermint depending on the time of day. Coconut water + activated charcoal + sea salt (hangover preventative). Fevertree sodas. Mexicoke. Bitters lime and soda when at a bar and not drinking.

     

    Tea and Iced Tea

    TeabagBill Brooks,  The Cannibal Liquor House, Manhattan: I am a big fan of sun tea in the summer. I have 2-3 empty clear growlers that I fill with water, various fruits (watermelon, lemon, raspberry, peaches, etc), spices (mint, lemon verbena, basil), and some really good quality tea. Leave it out in the sun for a couple of hours and I will go thru a jug every 2-3 days. Love my sun tea.

    Gary Crunkleton of The Crunkleton in Chapel Hill, NC: Sweet Tea

    Christian Suzuki of multiple bars, San Francisco: Genmaicha, Oolang (iced for summer, hot during winter), coffee (black…like my soul)

    David Bonatesta: Genmaicha tea , Evian Water or San Pellegrino. Vitamin Water, Carrot Juice, Espresso

    Trevor Easter of Normandie Club, Los Angeles: Bhakti original and coldbrew chai blend.

    Bethany Ham:  If it's cold out – green tea with honey and lemon or chai tea with a little hot almond milk.  If it's hot out – bitters and soda #ftw, iced tea or ice water with a splash of fresh sweetened ginger and ango. 

    Jared Hirsch of Sidebar, Oakland, CA:  At work: Arnold Palmer the way he liked it (3:1 iced tea : lemonade.) At home: Harney and Sons' Paris tea, or Lapsang Souchong tea, or Dr. Browns' Cream Soda. 

    Matthew Rowley, writer: For me it's tea. Iced tea all year and, when the mercury dips, hot tea in an old 500 ml West German beer stein. First one goes down usually before dawn. Second by 7am or so. A third only if I'm not going to the gym that day. Between hot and iced teas, I usually dispatch 2-4 liters per day.  I may have a tea problem.

    Andreas Künster: Black tea (the English way), cold milk, calpis or calpico with soda and a lot of non sparkling water

    Tim Morrison of 4th Street Bar & Grill, Lake Mary, FL:  I'm a tea addict. Hot or cold or any kind. I go thru more unsweet iced black tea than anything. 

    Christopher Day:  Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

     Niquito Constan: mate-cocido (a famous argentinean infusion) with milk and mascabo (red sugar), coffee with milk and honey, ginger beer whenever I can lay myself on one. I tend to mix tonic with juices. Homemade guarana soda, or homemade pomegranate with soda! From time to time I go full on zombie mode and drink guarana flavoured energy drink called V.

    Jen Ackrill, Top of Waikiki, Hawaii: Technically when I'm "not drinking" I'm drinking Dolin Blanc with soda and a grapefruit zest, but when I'm NOT drinking it's Yogi Egyptian Licorice Tea, hot or cold!

     

    Weird Miscellany

    A1jAdGiMqPL._SX522_Cari Hah of Big Bar in Los Angeles: Korean Corn Silk Tea

    Blake Pope of Kindred, North Carolina: Switchel.  It's composition is incredibly simple – usually, just three ingredients: seltzer, apple cider vinegar, and either honey, molasses or maple syrup. I love the simplicity. Kindred currently has a pomegranate switchel on tap and I can’t get enough.

    Thor Bergquist of PS40 in Sydney, Australia:  Smoked lemonade made in house

    Dan Brink:  Apple cider vinegar, honey, cinnamon, ice

    Leilani Vella:  I don't find the trade of sugar for alcohol to be a healthier choice. So kombucha, bitters and soda, lemon grass mint tea, orange slice with fresh mint a splash of lemon juice and soda, or fresh juiced ginger, lemon apple and greens.

     Ariana Vitale: Verjus

     Cordula Langer: Joghurt with soda and homemade smoothies

    Alex Smith, Whitechapel, SF: I have a favorite recovery drink when I go to the gym – when I am coincidentally also "not drinking." Combo of the following: some concentrated cold brew coffee w/ chicory (4 oz), hemp milk (2 oz), natural cane ginger beer (2 oz), coconut water (10 oz), and some Bob's Red Mill chocolate protein powder (3 tbs).

     

    Conclusions

    So if you wanted to take something away from this, here is what I see. Bartenders like:

    • Tea, perhaps even more than coffee. I did not know this. 
    • Grapefruit and Tonic – If you're a tonic water brand you're going to want to release this as a combination flavor. 
    • Topo Chico is so, so hot right now. (I introduce it to my friends as 'bartender water.') Here's a good NYT story about it's new popularity.

     

     

  • Bottled Waters Most Resembling Waters of Scotland

    In this post we'll look at commercial brands of bottled water that resemble water from the Speyside, Highlands, and Islay regions of Scotland. 

    We saw before that different waters bring out different properties in scotch whisky.

    We can then look at properties of bottled water from Scotland. Thanks to UisgeSource, we can look at the properties of Highland, Speyside, and Islay water that they collected. See this post for more details.

    But as this water isn't available everywhere yet, we can look at their water analysis and try to find other bottled water that is somewhat close in pH level and mineral content.

    For reference on mineral waters, I used the book Fine Waters, which I wrote about here and here and here. The mineral content for all mineral waters is available online, so you can look up other brands to see if they match Scottish waters. Fine Waters is a few years old, so it is possible the numbers have changed on some waters.

    Also note that the UisgeSource numbers are approximate based on information on their website and tests I conducted at home. 

    The closest bottled waters to UisgeSource water are bolded. Note that I've never heard of any of those Islay-style water brands. 

    Speyside Water Approximation
    Highland Water Approximation
    Islay water approximation

    Update: If you want to help look for other bottled waters most resembling Islay waters, check out this ordered list by pH on MineralWaters.org and see if any waters that you have heard of are a good match for pH and TDS. And let me know!

    So, should you want to try diluting whisky with different regional-style bottled waters, this should give you some starting points on how to do so.

    The above images were taken from slides I presented at the Tales of the Cocktail convention in July 2013. 

    —

    The water project imageThe Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball.  For all posts in the project, visit the project index page. 

     

     

    Related articles
    How Different Waters Affect The Flavor of Whisky
    A Whisky and Water Tasting
    Interview with a Water Sommelier

  • Does Water Matter in Spirits Production?

    Though I often write for DiffordsGuide.com, this time editor Ian Cameron wrote about me, or rather, my talk on water at Tales of the Cocktail.

    Water on diffordsguide
     Some of the information in the seminar you may have read here previously on Alcademics as part of the Water Project, and some information from the talk is definitely new. 

    This write-up is a good summary of what happened at the talk, and stay tuned for more information in greater detail here on Alcademics.

     

    Related articles
    How Different Waters Affect The Flavor of Whisky
    Interview with a Water Sommelier
    A Whisky and Water Tasting
    How to Classify Bottled Waters

  • A Whisky and Water Tasting

    Today, Friday July 12, is the last day to purchase online tickets for Tales of the Cocktail seminars. There are still plenty of seats in my Water World: Water in Spirits and Drinks seminar, and I encourage you to attend. It's going to blow your mouth.

    In previous posts, we've seen that different mineral waters affect the taste of scotch whisky, bringing out flavors such as sweetness, grains, and briney notes. These can be regional Scottish waters, or just different brands of bottled water. 

    In today's post I will go over what we'll taste in my seminar.

    1. Bowmore 12 on its own. 

    2. Mountain Valley Spring water (flat). 

    3. Perrier (sparkling) on its own.

    4. Bowmore 12 with just a few drops of flat mineral water added. What flavors change or become pronounced when we do this? 

    5. Water with whisky added on top of it. How does this smell different from water added to whisky? This is a a demonstration of Esterification/Saponification.

    6. Swirl the last two cups. Do they now smell the same? 

    7. Add more mineral water to whisky, up to equal parts. How does the whisky continue to change. At what point does it go flat?

    8. Add Magnesium salts to mineral water and stir. What does this water taste like? 

    9. Add this water to Bowmore 12. What flavors does this bring out in the whisky? Are those the same flavors as were in the Magnesium water, or different?

    10. Add Calcium salts to mineral water and stir. What does this water taste like? 

    11. Add this water to Bowmore 12. What flavors does this bring out in the whisky? Are those the same flavors as were in the Calcium water, or different?

    12. Now double up on those mineral waters. What do the waters taste like with lots of minerals? Better or Worse? Add more whisky to them. Still good? 

    13. Add a few drops of Perrier to Bowmore 12. What does this do to the whisky? 

    14. Add equal parts of Perrier to Bowmore 12, as in a highball. Now how does it taste? 

    Photo (1)

    I've gone through this tasting at home and with a victim friend, and the results are really fascinating. The mineral makeup and total amount of minerals influences the flavor of scotch whisky (and presumably other spirits) quite dramatically.

    I hope that this will cause whiksy lovers in the audience not to rethink adding water to whisky at all, but to think, "Which is the best water to add to this particular dram?"

    I hope to see you at the World World seminar, taking place on July 19th at 3:30PM in New Orleans. 

    —

    The water project imageThe Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball. For all posts in the project, visit the project index page. 

     

     

    Related articles
    How Different Waters Affect The Flavor of Whisky
    How to Classify Bottled Waters
    Pairing Mineral Water With Food
    Interview with a Water Sommelier

  • Interview with a Water Sommelier

    In researching water in both both distilled spirits and at serving, I came across Martin Riese, a water sommelier. He is the General Manager at Ray's & Stark, a restaurant located at the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA).

    He is developing a water program for the restaurant, and has his own water brand, hilariously called Beverly Hills 9OH2O. 

    I asked him for an email interview and he kindly consented. The interview is below, slightly modified in some places for clarity. 

    How did you become a water sommelier?

    SD_JMRiese_smallI had in 2005 the idea to create a water menu in the restaurant which I worked (in Germany). We had 1500 different wines and I always thought we needed to have a selection of waters to pair with the wines. The idea was a huge success, we started with 14 different waters and we ended up with over 40. I could almost not believe how different all the waters can taste and which impact they had to the wine and food experience.

    The media attention which I received gave me the name of water sommelier. So, I do not have really a certification as a water sommelier but I learned learned everything during the job and during a lot of tastings and matching.

    Where else are there water sommeliers in the USA? 

    I've known that for several years a hotel in New York had a water sommelier, but I don't know of a list or other water sommeliers who are working in the restaurant industry right now.

    What will the water program be like at Ray’s & Starck? 

    The hardest thing right now for me is not to create the water menu, it is to get the waters into the United States. We are not talking about the regular waters which you can get in every grocery store like Voss or Fiji. I want to show my guests the variety of waters like Iskilde from Denmark, which has a very unique earth taste, or Vichy Catalan which is very salty and high in minerals.

    The program at Ray's will feature around 20 different mineral waters. It will be not a regular list; it will be more like a small book with a lot of information. Every water will get one whole page with a picture of the bottle, the mineral content, a small chart how the water will taste,; and a story about the water, where the spring is and why the water is so unique.

    I read the book Fine Waters [read about that here and here and here]. Do you categorize water in the same way as the author Michael Mascha? What do you do or how do you think differently than he does?

    I highly respect Michael Mascha. He was one of the first ones here in America who realized how important is to drink the right water. And exactly that is the challenge here in America. For 99 percent of Americans, is water just water. In Europe people have a different background on the topic water. Just in Germany we have over 580 different water brands. People are very aware of the difference in water.

    In America most of the time guests order tap water, with ice and lemon. Here in Los Angeles, tap water is filtered so the mineral content is very low, and chlorine is added for sanitary reasons. Imagine now you enjoying a great red wine with a good amount of tannins. The chlorine of the tap water will overpower the fruit nuances, the extremely chilled-down water will completely ruin your experience, and the acidity of the lemon is not pairing with the tannins of the red wine.

    I like to help my guests and it is amazing for me to see how wines and spirits can change by just the right water which you are drinking beside it.

    I’m concerned more with water and spirits more than water and food pairings. Have you explored that very much?

    My main focus was always pairing water with food and wines. When I started at Ray's & Stark Bar I met Paul Sanguinetti my mixologist (and the restaurant's sommelier). It was amazing that we both shared the same ideas and it was amazing for me to explore the different waters with different spirits.

    Some distillers say that you should serve/dilute whisky only with low or medium TDS (totally dissolved solids, the mineral content) levels. In Fine Waters, he also recommends staying away from high TDS waters with mixed drinks. Why is that?

    I agree for whisky. High TDS waters have a very strong own taste, they can be almost salty. You want to enjoy the original taste of the whisky and you do not want to alienate the taste with the high minerals.

    But in mixed drinks it can be very interesting and I think there is a lot to explore for the bartenders and mixologists here in LA. The taste of water can be used to bring the cocktail to the next level. For example, the same cocktail made with a low mineral water will be more likely smooth, with a high mineral water you will add some spice to it.

    I am always giving the example of the movie Ratatouille, where the rat is explaining the different taste with colors. One mineral has the color red, the other green, add the different taste of the spirits, like blue and yellow, together it can become a firework. But be careful, by adding to many colors (different tastes), the colors are not bright any more .

    Do you have an opinion on ideal brands (or styles) of water for drinks such as the Scotch and Soda? Vodka Soda?

    Lots of people think that mineral water is automatically soda water. That is not true, mineral water can be still or with carbonation. Soda water is a water which has a high content of CO2, and that is exactly the most important thing for mixing it with drinks.

    When you would use a mineral water which has a medium content of CO2, the mixed drink would not have enough carbonation. I think every single bartender should choose his favorite brand. Just do the test, buy several soda waters , taste them by themselves and then make the same cocktail with different soda waters. For sure every single bartender will find the right soda water for there concept. 

    I prefer a water with a medium mineral content, to give the drinks some support, but every bar should do a tasting and they will come up with the 'right" water.

    I’ve been playing around with individual components of mineral waters. I’m wondering if you have tasting notes for individual mineral salts in water: sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, etc. Or have feelings about waters that contain a lot of any one of them.

    The mix of different minerals in each water is interesting. That's the reason water has such a big variety from salty to smooth, from bitter to sweet. Just minerals by themselves have following tastes:

    Sodium = salty
    Calcium = bitter, sour – actually calcium has his own taste which scientist discovered several years ago
    Magnesium = slightly bitter
    Potassium = salty – sour

    IMG_4484

    Photo by Sven Doornkaat. Property of Martin Riese

     

    Beverly Hills 90H2O

    I asked Riese for information about his water brand. The below is from the press release with additional info from Riese. 

    PH 7.5
    TDS 390

    Actually that is the amazing thing, when you drink the water it feels like a very low mineral water, but it has a good amount of minerals to be the perfect match with good wines, spirits and food

    Beverly Hills 9OH2O, World’s First Sommelier-Crafted Water, Launched Globally

    Inspired by the crafting of champagne and fine spirits, a team of fine dining experts led by the world's preeminent water sommelier Martin Riese has created Beverly Hills 9OH2O, the world’s first sommelier-crafted water.  

    Pristine spring water from the Northern California Mountains is crafted with natural minerals using a proprietary patent-pending formula. It is designed to have the ultimate taste profile, and is best enjoyed gently chilled to 59°F. The resulting masterpiece is alkaline, highly balanced, and the perfect pairing to fine foods and wines.

    Beverly Hills 9OH2O is made available in limited editions of 10,000 individually numbered glass bottles. Each edition features unique custom art, making every bottle also a highly desirable gift and prized collectable.

    The water is available for purchase online for the rate of $164 for a 12-bottle case of liters. 

     

    —

    The water project imageThe Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball.  For all posts in the project, visit the project index page. 

     

    Related articles
    How to Properly Serve Bottled Water
    How to Classify Bottled Waters
    Pairing Mineral Water With Food
    Building Better Mineral Water: Deconstructing Mineral Waters

  • How Different Waters Affect The Flavor of Whisky

    This is some seriously cool stuff!

    A few weeks ago I tasted waters sourced from Scotland's Highlands, Speyside, and Islay regions and noticed how they brought out different flavors in scotch whisky. 

    Bowmore's master blender Rachel Barrie recently performed a similar experiment, though she didn't name the source of the waters. But it turns out they were pretty similar to the waters I tasted, and her results echoed my own. I love not being totally wrong.

    But the truly exciting thing is if we combine the results of her tasting with what I've learned about regional waters of Scotland, we see that the water from certain regions of Scotland, when added to whisky, seems to bring out specific taste qualities in the whisky for which those regions are known.

    In other words, if you dilute a whisky with water from Islay (or in the style of Islay water based on mineral content and pH), it seems to emphasize Islay-ish flavor notes in the whisky, no matter where that whisky is from. 

    Okay, let's get started. First lets see how Barrie's waters compared to the ones I tasted from UisgeSource.

     

    UisgeSource Water Rachel Barrie's Water
     Highland Water: hard water, high in minerals. 225 parts per million dissolved solids and high in nitrate, calcium, and magnesium. pH around 7.7 (lightly alkaline)  Mineral-rich, with above average concentrations of Calcium and Magnesium minerals, high hardness and an elevated pH of 8.
     Speyside Water: soft water, low in minerals. 125 ppm dissolved solids. pH around 7.8 (lightly alkaline)  Soft water with low conductivity, hardness, minerals and polarity with pH 7.
     Islay Water: higher natural acidity. 183 ppm TDS. pH around 6.3. High in sulphate, potassium, sodium, and chloride.   Acidic water with higher Sodium chloride and Potassium sulphate, lower Calcium and Magnesium and pH 6-7.

     

    As you can see, the waters we each tasted were pretty similar to each other. The only not-major difference was that the pH of Barrie's low-mineral water was more neutral than the water I tried. So I think it's fair to say that we tasted basically the same style of water. 

    Now lets compare tasting notes, taking into account that Barrie is the Master Blender and the expert at this, while I'm just making stuff up as I go. Barrie noted that she didn't expect the subtle tastes in the water to bring out dramatic tastes in the whisky, but it did. They conducted a blind tasting with equal parts whisky and water. 

    UisgeSource Water- My Tasting Notes Rachel Barrie's Water- Her Tasting Notes with Bowmore 12
     Highland Water: The Highland water brought out honey notes from whiskies.  The mineral-rich water unlocked additional layers of floral, herbal and peaty notes on the nose, and provided a more intense and intriguing textural experience (chalky minerality) on the tongue.
     Speyside Water: The Speyside water made both the Islay and Highland whisky taste sweet.   The soft water brought out more of the sweet honeyed and citrus fruit notes, and delivered a softer, sweeter and smooth rounded taste experience.
     Islay Water: The Islay water brought out the creme brulee and smoke.  The acidic water brought out more peppery peat, iodine and brine with unripe fruits and cereal notes.

     

    While our notes don't agree entirely, we each found that Speyside water brings out sweetness, while Islay water brings out Islay-specific flavor notes like peat, smoke, iodine, and brine. 

    I've always been skeptical about the bourbon-and-branch concept of pairing a whisky with the water from the same source. In the process of distillation, nearly all of the source water is removed from the spirit, and then it is diluted with purified (usually municipal) water. There is hardly any branch water in a finished whisky, so why bother going through the effort of pairing it? 

    But yet, if we look at the results of the experiment above, Barrie's tasting notes for what the water brings out in the whisky are pretty similar to the generic tasting notes for whiskies from those regions:

     

    Tasting Notes for Regional Whiskies, from a story I wrote for Imbibe Magazine a few years ago Rachel Barrie's Water- Her Tasting Notes
     Highland Whisky: these whiskies tend to yield a light smoke/peat element and flavors ranging from heathery and spicy to fruity  The mineral-rich water unlocked additional layers of floral, herbal and peaty notes on the nose, and provided a more intense and intriguing textural experience (chalky minerality) on the tongue.
     Speyside Whisky: gentle, elegant and, refined whiskies  The soft water brought out more of the sweet honeyed and citrus fruit notes, and delivered a softer, sweeter and smooth rounded taste experience.
     Islay Whisky: pungent with peat smoke, iodine, and brine flavors  The acidic water brought out more peppery peat, iodine and brine with unripe fruits and cereal notes.

     

    Isn't that awesome? Turns out there just might be something to all that bourbon-and-branch stuff after all.

    Note that Barrie wasn't trying to gauge the "best" water to pair with Bowmore. She writes, "Which water and Bowmore combination you will prefer is all down to personal taste. If you prefer a sweeter honeyed taste, adding soft water may be preferred. However, if you prefer the drier/briney tastes in Bowmore, a slightly acidic water (such as the water sourced locally on Islay) may be preferred." Read Rachel Barrie's full experiment and thorough tasting notes here.

    This experiment deserves more testing. Here are some projects you and I might try to validate this experiment and take it further:

    • Survey the scotch whisky producers for more information on their waters. As I wrote previously, even distilleries close to each other may have very different water sources. 
    • Try whisky from each region paired with water from each region. In my experiment, I tried both Highland and Islay whisky and found the waters brought out the same notes in each, but it's worth trying all three of these regions. 
    • Try this with waters from the Lowlands of Scotland, and Kentucky and Japan with those whiskies. 
    • Find commercially-available bottled water that has the same or similar properties to the waters from each of these regions. (I'll get on this one right away.) If I can't find them, I may need to make them myself with what I've learned about creating mineral water. 
    • Then repeat this experiment with those waters to see if it still works. 

     

    So, yeah, awesome! 

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    The water project imageThe Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball. For all posts in the project, visit the project index page. 

     

  • Pairing Mineral Water With Food

    Fine WatersThis blog post contains more information from Michael Mascha's book Fine Waters and website FineWaters.com. Previously I looked at How to Classify Bottled Waters and How to Properly Serve Bottle Water. Today we'll look at pairing water with food. You can read the full description of it on the FineWaters website.

    Basically, Mascha says you match the food or you contrast it, much like any other pairing. However, you're largely not pairing with flavor, you're pairing with texture. 

    Mascha says 75 percent of the pairing importance should be about the mouthfeel of the water, as measured by the carbonation. Big loud boldly carbonated waters can overwhelm subtle dishes, but would go well with crispy food, for example. He pairs the level of carbonation with the overall mouthfeel of the entire dish. 

    The next 20 percent pairing is matching the dominant food in the dish (rather than the overall dish) with the water's mineral content. Highly mineralic water has weight to it, and can be paired with big flavors like grilled beef, lamb, and hard cheeses. 

    The final 5 percent of pairing is fine-tuning the experience with the water's pH level. Waters that are slightly alkaline (basic) can be perceived as sweet, and highly alkaline water can taste slightly bitter. Acidic waters go with fatty food or seafood.

    Those rules are for matching the water with the food. However, if you're serving wine at the meal, Mascha says you need to match the water to the wine instead. He says match white wine with still water that has a low mineral content and neutral pH, while red wine can be paired with still water with medium to high mineral content, but still a neutral pH. 

    In the book, Mascha has a chart of pairings. With grilled beef, use a water with "classic" (normal) carbonation, high minerality, and an alkaline (basic) pH. These are all the 'big' flavors of water. With lobster, he recommends still water with super low amount of dissolved solids, and a neutral pH. These are all the most subtle lack-of-flavors in water. 

    Finally, you can treat water like you might think of wine and cocktails throughout courses. For appetizers, he recommends starting with a boldly carbonated water, much like champagne. As you move to salad, move to water with the lowest carbonation level. He then recommends switching to still water for a contrast with a light first course, a lightly carbonated water with a second course, then pairing the main course by texture as outlined above. With dessert he recommends still water or very lightly carbonated, but you can work with the pH in that alkaline waters can be perceived as sweet or slightly bitter, making them the dessert or the digestif. 

     

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    The water project imageThe Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball.  For all posts in the project, visit the project index page. 

     

    Related articles
    How to Classify Bottled Waters
    How to Properly Serve Bottled Water
    Tasting the Regional Waters of Scotland
    Measuring the pH of Mineral Waters

  • How to Properly Serve Bottled Water

    Fine WatersThe book Fine Waters and the accompanying website have been real eye-openers for me. In another post I wrote about how the author Michael Mascha categorizes bottled waters. In this post I'll talk about how he recommends serving bottled waters. And in another post I'll share his advice on pairing water with food and wine. 

    Ice

    Mascha would prefer that you didn't. He says, "Ice is the natural enemy of bottled water." He prefers serving water at the proper temperature (see below) and avoiding ice altogether. But if you must, make ice cubes with the same water you're serving. 

    For cocktails, he recommends high-end water with a neutral pH (around 7.0) and low amount of dissolved solids (TDS).

    Stemware

    "Toasting with a water goblet just looks silly," says Mascha, bemoaning that water glasses as part of stemware sets are shorter and made with heavy glass. 

    He notes that some manufacturers like Riedel have come out with stemware designed for water that are tall and thin. I'll have to track some down. 

    Storage

    Mascha stores his water in a wine cellar at 55 degrees, which is also about his serving temperature (see below). The International Bottled Water Association recommends storing bottles away from sunlight, at lower than room temperature, and not near strong chemicals like paint thinner. (I suppose that would also prevent accidentally drinking from the wrong bottle. )

    Decanting 

    Recommended for still water in ugly plastic bottles, but otherwise unnecessary. 

    Serving Temperature 

    It sounds like 55 degrees Fahrenheit is Mascha's default temperature, especially when comparing brands to each other. 

    Below is a chart of his ideal temperature for serving bottles of different effervescence, from least to  most. 

    Carbonation Level Temperature
    Still 54F (12C)
    Effervescent 56F (13C)
    Light 58F (14C)
    Classic 60F (16C)
    Bold 62F (17C)

     

    —

    The water project imageThe Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball. For all posts in the project, visit the project index page. 

     

    Related articles
    How to Classify Bottled Waters
    Tasting the Regional Waters of Scotland
    More Mineral Water Info from a Book on Soda
    Building Better Mineral Water: Deconstructing Mineral Waters

  • Water Research Resources

    Below are some of the sources I've been using in the Water Project here on Alcademics. I'll update this page as I use more resources and read more books. 


    Fix the pumpsFix the Pumps    . This book by Darcy O'Neil about vintage soda fountains also has information about mineral waters, which were once made-to-order. It includes practical information about how to keg soda waters, and list some not-so-practical recipes for commercial soda waters (as they're 20 liter+ batches), but there is good information about how to properly get minerals into solution with carbonation. 

    Khymos. This blog has an amazing resource – a list of all the minerals in various commercial bottled waters, plus a spreadsheet that helps calculate how to make versions of them at home by adding your own mineral salts and carbonating. The two relevant pages are the original DIY Mineral Water post and then an updated page Mineral Waters A La Carte. 

    Craft cocktails at homeCraft Cocktails at Home. This book, which is more sciency than it sounds, contains an interesting chapter on water. I published that chapter on Alcademics here, but the whole book is worth buying. 

     

    Fine Waters by Michael Mascha. This is the book on bottled water, written by a water sommelier. Not on the history or environmental consequences of it – there are plenty of those- but on categorization of bottled waters by carbonation, dissolved solid content, and pH. Plus there is great information on pairing water with food and wine. Most of the information from the book is also available on his website FineWaters.com.

    MineralWaters.org. This site, which looks a bit out of date, lists information about water, drinking statistics, and water analyses. It also allows you do do things like sort brands of water by factors like pH and mineral content.

    What to Drink with What you Eat by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. On pages 276-277, they include what to pair with waters of different carbonation levels (based on the Fine Waters scale). For example, Boldly carbonated bottled water such as Perrier and Saratoga Springs pairs with: crispy appetizers, chips, fried food, hamburgers, especially with cheese, hor d'oeuvres, nuts, fried oysters, and pizza. 

     

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    The water project imageThe Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball. For all posts in the project, visit the project index page. 

     

    Related articles
    Tasting the Regional Waters of Scotland
    Building Better Mineral Water: Deconstructing Mineral Waters
    Measuring the pH of Mineral Waters
    More Mineral Water Info from a Book on Soda

  • How to Classify Bottled Waters

    Fine WatersMost books about bottled water seem to trace the history and environmental impact of the industry, but Fine Waters by Michael Mascha is quite a different book from that. 

    Mascha is a water sommelier and runs the website FineWaters.com, which contains pretty much all of the information in the book as far as I can see. (The book from 2006 is out of print but still available on Amazon and other sites.) 

    In the book Mascha lays out a categorization scheme for bottled waters, which I'll briefly repeat below. 

    Bottled Water versus Bottled Water

    Mascha is not concerned with municipal waters put into a bottle (the to-go part of it- the bottle- being the emphasis), but on bottled natural waters, in which the water is the important part.

    Source of Water

    • Spring – This is a tricky term because in the US, spring water doesn't have to come from a spring, but can come from a well drilled next to a spring if the two water sources are linked somewhere underground.
    • Artesian – I thought this was another word for 'artisinal' but I was wrong. Artesian aquifers are basically trapped water under pressure, which will pump itself to the surface if a hole is drilled. Fiji and Voss are artesian waters. 
    • Well – Similar to spring water, but comes from a well.
    • Rain – rain.
    • Glacier – Very old water with low mineral content tasting similar to rain water.
    • Iceberg – Not as pristine as you might imagine, with microorganisms found in old ice and some layers from the 1950s when the air was impure and atomic tests were common.
    • Lake, stream, reservoir – typically purified before bottling.
    • Deep sea – melted iceberg water now on the sea floor, pumped up in Hawaii from a 3,000 foot pipe into the ocean. Cool! 

    Carbonation Level

    Mascha says that the carbonation level controls the mouthfeel of water, and is the most important factor in matching water with food. He developed a scale that he calls the FineWaters Balance:

    • Still – No carbonation
    • Effervescent – nearly still with some bubbles. Badoit is an example. 
    • Light
    • Classic – Typical carbonation level we expect from a bottled water
    • Bold – Big bubbles with big pops, like in Perrier.

    Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

    This is the amount of dissolved minerals in the water. Interestingly, this is different from Water Hardness, which only considers the calcium and magnesium levels of a water. So a water can be hard water (lots of calcium and/or magnesium) but have a low TDS level overall. 

    pH Level

    Acidic water can taste sour. Alkaline (basic) water can taste bitter and have a slippery feel. Slightly basic waters may taste sweet. Mascha says this only account for 5 percent of the overall flavor of bottled water though. 

    In future posts, I'll cover other topics from the book, which I found completely fascinating. 

     

    —

    The water project imageThe Water Project on Alcademics is research into water in spirits and in cocktails, from the streams that feed distilleries to the soda water that dilutes your highball. For all posts in the project, visit the project index page. 

     

    Related articles
    Tasting the Regional Waters of Scotland
    Building Better Mineral Water: Deconstructing Mineral Waters