Category: water

  • Water Research Resources

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    Camper English
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    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 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…

  • How to Classify Bottled Waters

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    Camper English
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    Most 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…

  • More Mineral Water Info from a Book on Soda

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    Camper English
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    Another useful resource in my exploration of water in spirits and cocktails is Darcy O'Neil's book Fix the Pumps.  The book focusses on the history and mechanics of the pre-Prohibition soda fountain. Though largely filled with information on sodas, it includes a chapter and some recipes on mineral waters.  Before global shipping became easy, soda…

  • Building Better Mineral Water: Deconstructing Mineral Waters

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    Camper English
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    In the Water Project here on Alcademics, I'm looking at what is in commercial brands of sparkling mineral waters and reconstructing them.  To do so, first I looked at how to get all the dissolved solids out of tap water. Then I measured properties of commercial mineral waters – pH and dissolved solids- and compared…

  • Tasting the Regional Waters of Scotland

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    Camper English
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    In my search for information about water sources used for various spirits as part of the Water Project, I came across Uisge Source, a company that bottles waters from different regions in Scotland. The waters from Speyside, Islay, and the Highlands are meant to be representative of the waters used by distillers in those regions…

  • Making Mineral Water: Starting from Scratch

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    Camper English
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    In the Water Project I'm studying water in spirits in cocktails, from the source water for fermentation through to the sparkling water we use to dilute drinks. As part of the latter research, I'm looking into deconstructing and reconstructing mineral water.  Much of the work on this has been done by other people and I'll…

  • The Geology of Scotland and the book Scotch on the Rocks

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    Camper English
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    In my studies of water in spirits and cocktails, I picked up the book Whisky on the Rocks: Origins of the 'Water of Life' by Stephen and Julie Cribb. The book is about the geography of Scotland and how that influences the water sources for scotch whisky.  It turns out Scotland's geology is pretty varied…

  • Transform Tap Water into Magical Alpine Fairy-Water (Book Excerpt)

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    Camper English
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    Today's post is an excerpt from the new book Craft Cocktails at Home: Offbeat Techniques, Contemporary Crowd-Pleasers, and Classics Hacked with Science by Kevin Liu.  The book is heavy on the science, which is awesome.  And you can download the Kindle version for free Thursday, February 28 – Saturday, March 2.  Liu gave me permission to…