Wine to water

I've recently stumbled across a world I never knew existed.

An article on Slashfood from the weekend discussed Michael Mascha, who bears the rare and distinct title of water sommelier. After working as a wine sommelier, he began to fear for his liver after his cardiologist recommended he cut way back on alcohol. Enter a new passion: water.

Mascha has written a book, Fine Waters A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Most Distinctive Bottled Waters and his abundantly resourceful website discusses water industry minutae I had never imagined existed. In addition to extensive company information and trace mineral statistics, he offers flavour descriptions usually reserved for wine. See below for his assessment of Galvanina water:

Galvanina Description:

Balance: Still Light
Virginality: *****
Minerality: Medium
Orientation: Neutral
Hardness: Very Hard
Carbonation: A

A poll in the sidebar of Mascha's website asks for readers preferences on still, effervescent, light sparkling, medium sparkling or bold sparkling. The writer from Slashfood was allegedly skeptical about variation in water taste, but noted "subtle and palpable differences" between 13 varieties. With more than 3,000 kinds of bottled water available, maybe Mascha is on to something.