Beverly Hills 9OH2O Luxury Mineral Water Crafted By A Water Sommelier.

The title of this article may have left you scratching your head a little bit, after all, the concept of a "Water Sommelier", seems somewhat of an oxymoron, as Sommelier is a term for an expert recommender of wines to pair with food, how can wine have a connection to water?  Unless of course this is some sort of latter day miraculous biblical figure, who will turn water into a recommended wine as you sit at your table.

The reality is rather more mundane, in fact, it is a term generated by the media, to respond to the increasing number of high end restaurants which have large selections of mineral water to go alongside their wine menu, from this, certain individuals have become more versed in the choosing of water to pair with wine or food, and has resulted in them being dubbed, or self-appointing, as "Water Sommeliers", for example, Europe, being less attracted to such self aggrandisement, has one; Arno Steguweit, and America has several, most well known of which being Martin Riese, the name behind the product here, and Sommelier/Water Sommelier at Ray's & Stark in Los Angeles,  Being as it is an informal title, there is no realistic way to measure the number of these water sommeliers that actually exist, nor if it is a trend that we should expect to see continuing long.

On then to the Product at hand, the Beverly Hills 9OH2O water, leaving aside the hilarity of the name, what Martin Riese has attempted to do is essentially create a Champagne of waters, that is to say, an aspirational product, marketed exceptionally well, which may or may not have any intrinsic value which equals the price it commands, and they appear to have succeeded in this goal, the mission statement, and their motto is "the best tasting water in the world".

Lets get down to brass tacks, the water is sourced from a "pristine spring" high up in the Northern Californian Mountains, (presumably not one close to where any Gas Fracturing work has taken place, if you don't get the reference, go watch Gasland), it is apparently crafted with natural minerals using a "proprietary patent-pending formula", which it claims leaves the water with a 7.5 pH alkalinity.  

Back to marketing spiel again, it states a silky-smooth incredibly crisp exceptionally fresh tasting profile, with overwhelming appeal across the entire consumer spectrum, and that these extraordinary characteristics make it the first ever water truly suited for pairing with fine wine and foods.

On the presentation side of things, diamond shaped glass bottles, presented in individually packaged in sleek black boxes, and featuring a custom unique artwork on every single of the limited 10,000 bottles available, ensure that if you are consuming on of these, at home or in a restaurant you will feel a little special, in fact, the closest thing resembling these bottles that comes to mind is that of luxury vodka bottles.

The reality is, we don't know how much better or worse than a normal bottle of evain this stuff really is, however, it could be fun for a one-off and at £9 a bottle (or $14 listed on their website), one bottle won't break the bank at home, or probably twice that in a restaurant, so why not give it a try?