Bottled Water Tasting Workshop

Could you tell Fiji from Evian in a blind tasting? Know your Topo from your Pellegrino just from looking at the bubbles? Have you ever tried salty sparkling Spanish Vichy Catalan, or experienced the bizarre Borjomi from the Republic of Georgia?

Even skeptics who come to this class are shocked by how dramatically waters differ in texture, minerality, carbonation, and finish. We’ll try lots of waters - some familiar and some super weird- and we’ll learn Why they taste the way they do in this fascinating alcohol-free experience. We’ll cover things like acidity, terroir, and TDS, and learn how to read a water quality report to help guess what a water will taste like before you crack open the bottle.

We’ll start with blind tasting San Francisco tap to see if Hetch Hetchy is as heavenly as we’ve heard about. We’ll continue blind tasting bottled still waters from neutral to mineral-rich, then crack open a whole bunch of sparkling soda waters and go through them one-by-one.

This tasting is perfect for curious drinkers, food lovers, coffee snobs, supertasters, sober folks, and people with strong opinions about everyday H2O. Most attendees walk away with a new favorite brand. It’s a relaxed, welcoming water workshop -- no pressure, just curiosity -- making it one of those surprisingly fun things to do in San Francisco when you want something different, social, and refreshingly memorable!

Read a review of the class by former SF Chronicle Food Critic Soleil Ho.

Location and Instructor

Classes are limited to 8 people. Class takes place in an office on the 6th floor of the Mechanics Institute Library building at Post and Market Street in the Financial District, just steps away from the Montgomery BART/MUNI station.

Your instructor is Camper English of Alcademics.com. Camper has been writing and teaching about cocktails and spirits in San Francisco for nearly 20 years, and has taught classes on water to more than 200 bartenders and consumers.

He is the author of Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails, and The Ice Book: Cool Cubes, Clear Spheres, and Other Chill Cocktail Crafts. Camper has given dozens of talks and classes about cocktails and spirits science and history to audiences of bartenders and consumers. To stay informed about all of Camper's classes, please join the Alcademics Newsletter, which goes out monthly.

Want to book a private class? Reach out any time!