Fine Waters: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Most Distinctive Bottled Waters

by Michael Mascha

Water is indeed everywhere especially bottled water. High-end restaurants now have water lists in addition to wine lists, water bars are opening up around the globe, and gourmet markets are selling dozens of different varieties of domestic and imported bottled waters. Consumers are beginning to recognize that bottled water, like wine, has a unique identity that is defined by its origin. Fine Waters introduces readers to the epicurean delights of water, sharing the ins and outs of the characteristics that provide various waters with their unique flavors, as well as recommended food pairings, stemware suggestions, and optimum serving temperatures for enjoying both still and sparkling waters. The book also provides tasting notes for more than 100 of the world's best bottled waters. Produced in full color, with photographs throughout, Fine Waters is the first guide to this up-and-coming food trend.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to request this through interlibrary loan! The first part is the most interesting, where he goes through a lot of the fundamentals of fine water. However, most of those are available on his website finewaters.com. The rest is a guide to specific waters, but the entries are pretty short so it doesn't go as deep as I would like. I'd be interested in taking a look at the updated edition to see if they added any cool new waters.

[joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful as a listing of bottled waters around the world. Not a complete listing, does not have, for instance, Sheffield's O2 oxygenated water that was bottled at Chateau St Jean in the Valley of the Moon.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was recently in China and I made an effort to drink bottled water because of unknown tap water sources. I was at a restaurant and ordered “mineral water” and they brought me a bottle of “Vittel" water. I had been drinking lots of bottled water but when I tasted this. . . it was the best water I had ever tasted. . . ever. I started researching it to find out more and my research lead me to “Fine Waters.” I loved this book. The first 70 pages was history, background, science and etiquette about bottled water. It was educational and whimsical at the same time. As a person who doesn’t drink wine, I was fascinated with this book. The remainder of this book is a list of 100 bottled waters with full color pictures and descriptions. The author states that with over 3000 brands it was hard to narrow down to a small selection. After reading the book I went to my local organic market and picked up a few bottles to sample. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Clothing5 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, but every three pages I was up and going to the bathroom again. Man. so much peeing. Seriously, though...it made water interesting. I now want to be a water connoisseur.

[Anita]

the premise is hilarious.