Choosing from an expansive wine list can be a challenge, and as a result, many restaurants provide the services of a sommelier to help patrons choose. At Ray’s and Stark Bar, a restaurant at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, you can also enjoy the services of the country’s only water sommelier, Martin Riese. Martin compiled a 44-page menu of waters for diners to choose from and he happily provides pairing suggestions for his customers. If you are in the Los Angeles area, you can even attend a water tasting class with Martin. Listen to the interview with Taylor below.
After speaking with Martin about the complexities of water, we wanted to try a water tasting of our own. Martin provided a list of three waters he recommended for an at home tasting. We were unable to find Gerolsteiner--Trader Joe's in Nashua was sold out--so we supplemented with a couple of other choices that were readily available. Listen to our tasting session below.
Maureen chose Voss, but she mentioned that it was mostly because of the nice glass bottle. We really couldn't taste a difference between the still waters.
We supplemented Martin's list and added a few more waters for our in studio tasting.
Logan chose Hawaiian because she swears it was a better taste than the other still choices, but Taylor and Maureen weren't buying her story.
S. Pellegrino was the clear favorite for sparkling mineral waters, and Taylor chose it as his top sparkling water, but his pick for still water is good old fashioned tap water.
Blú Italy can also be purchased at Trader Joe's and was the substitute for the sold out Gerolsteiner. According to the label it had a smaller TDS (total dissolved solids) number than S. Pellegrino, and it seemed considerably more fizzy.
Martin was on Conan last year and did a late night water tasting.
