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10/2/2025
WT Staff
 Got water questions? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email us at info@wtny.us
October 3, 2025 832 am EDT
Clean Water Files
LOOK OUT MICHELIN CHEFS
The "Water Master" is coming around to test your imagination
Fine water is a natural product with terroir that holds experiences and creates wellness.
- Dr. Michael Mascha, Founder of Fine Waters
On a quest to reveal the most exquisite water selections of the world, Dr. Mascha is coming to your restaurant. He will ask to see your Water Menu.
Gallup tracks Americans’ views on drinking, measuring the attitude toward the health effects of moderate drinking ten times in the last twenty four years. The latest data, from the July 2025 Consumption Habits poll, show a new high of 45% of Americans responding that one or two alcoholic beverages per day is "bad for one's health". According to the veteran pollster, this is a six-percentage-point increase from a year ago, and 17-points higher than the health view in 2018.
The 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines from US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services recommends what the average American should eat and drink to promote health. According to current guidelines, abstinence from alcohol is no longer just for expectant mothers. From the program, Rethinking Drinking, "Drinking less is better for health than drinking more. People who do not drink should not start drinking for any reason."
Younger generations are more health conscious than their parents, spurning the sugary drinks in favor of flavored waters, albeit in awful, single-use plastic packaging. Of course, water is the universal and eternal go-to for hydration. Everyone needs water. Various grocery store brands compete for the beverage dollar while consumers do all the heavy lifting to get the product home. Tap water is well regulated and safe enough, but let's face it, it just doesn't satisfy that insatiable drive for "something special". Good news, at your next social outing, you can be health conscious without being boring. Take a look on the top shelf, the best waters of the world don't come in plastic bottles.
Meet Michael Mascha, Author of A Connoisseur's Guide to the World of Premium Waters
Dr. Mascha is a food anthropologist, on a mission to share the story of water around the globe, sharing a joy that at one time belonged to wine. Back around the time Gallup started the Consumption Habits poll, Michael Mascha was the consummate connoisseur of fine wines, enjoying the vast options, the curated selections offered for every day and the set-apart days, in the wine cellar at home, or fine dining rooms around the world. To share with friends and family life's momentous events generates an atmosphere electrified, memorable, and always consummated with wine served in beautiful glassware.
Gladness shared around a table of plenty invokes the traditional salute. It is said that raising one's glass to the glass of each honored guest invokes a good future. Others know, the gentle "tink, clink" of the bells of wine glasses coming together (no more than one-third full, of course), completes a full sensory experience circuit. Sound and vibration activate all the feel good factors, signaling the next pleasure, the tantalizing aroma of fruit of the vine, then the complexity of flavors in the first sip, with the sleek feel of the glass in hand, enveloped in the comforting shades and hues of the decor and lighting.
Circumstances have a way of changing. When wine is off limits to one of the group, whether temporarily or permanently, the human connection suffers. Separation or non-participation in the social custom brings discomfort, an injury only the disconnected soul knows. No matter your presentation, dignitary or common, when the sommelier's compendium is spurned, the stemware is swiftly removed, replaced with a tumbler, arriving with a dull thunk upon the table. A drop of sorrow falls, as if deserved.
Water is not just water
When wine was no longer an option for Mascha, the loss was felt, but it did not last long. A surge of energy and creativity ensued, transforming the dining ritual to recognize and embrace unique bottled waters. Mascha found the range of exquisite waters of the world myriad as wine regions, cultivars and terroir. With such depth to explore, Mascha dove in to a pleasant pool of possibilities, discovering the lowly water of taps and toilets should never be the only option offered at a table of fine dining. Preeminent places beware, if your singular sparkling water option is delivered with a sniff, presented in an ugly vessel, you are behind the times. Mascha has found nothing short of magic for all of us by this quest for intriguing waters.
As Mascha coins it, there is no best water. There is no pure water. Water is more than a substance to be measured and compared in linear fashion. Water has memory, encodes every substance it touches into its structure. Just let that sink in. Being as mindful of drinking water as for wine and food at our special events will elevate our experiences. Drinking water for enlightenment, for experience and for pleasure is certainly health-promoting, and not at all boring. Mascha has searched out the top water distillers and water bottlers from the corners of the globe. Now these treasures adorn the finest cabinetry and bottle cellars for the whole family to enjoy. Connection and inclusion is for one and all, the expectant mothers, the children, the alcohol-compromised. Professionals on call in health care and emergency services, maintaining sobriety as a duty to us all, can at last take part fully in the celebrations, as honored as the crystal-clear beverage of the hour.
Fine Waters does not sell or distribute water, rather provides training and certification for Water Sommeliers, a guide to Fine Waters for professionals and acolytes. Peruse a thoughtful selection intended for the signature bottle service, poured into crystal stemware or fine blown glass, with or without ice. Water tastings take many participants by surprise, according to Mascha. The range of flavors across the flight is almost always unexpected. Tasters may experience waters from the melt of ancient glaciers, remote and pristine springs, possibly the delicate droplets captured from ocean mist. All agree, this is not mere hydration. Water itself has attained new appreciation, the finest specimens ordered by the world's most distinguished Chefs. Individuals may also enjoy fine waters from around the world by subscription, delivered to the door. For those that enjoy their water cold, Arctic Ice offers door delivery also.
See WT article "Trancend-ice - A hundred thousand years of history in your glass as Arctic Ice makes a profitable venture of climate adaptation", here.
The Fine Waters Summit is an annual tasting extravaganza and product showcase to the discerning market, coming to Montreal, Canada in April 2026.
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