Olympia beer, once a good choice for those seeking cheap suds out West, was brewed in Tumwater, Wash., using supposedly superior “artesian spring water.” The slogan “It’s the Water” was on every Olympia can.
Water is, of course, the principal component of alcoholic beverages, people and the planet.
When the label on a bottle indicates that the contents are, for instance, 40 percent alcohol, that means the other 60 percent is water.
Though we’ve heard the common complaint about liquor being “watered down,” all liquors are watered down. When the liquor — like bourbon or gin — exits the still, water is added to step down the alcohol level so that other flavors can be appreciated and so that we humans can consume a glass or two without falling down drunk.
Jack Daniel’s distillery was founded in Lynchburg, Tenn., near Cave Spring, which provides limestone-filtered, mineral-rich water for the famous whiskey. Jason Morgan, who works at the distillery, explained that “this water is iron-free, which helps maintain the whiskey’s beautiful brown color, and high calcium levels make the water sort of sweet.”
Across the Atlantic in Britain, Martin Miller’s Gin, like all gins, contains botanicals, mainly juniper and fresh citrus. Unlike any other gins, however, Martin Miller’s is shipped to Iceland for bottling using Icelandic spring water.
As recent news attests, Iceland is subject to volcanoes, sitting as it does between Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. Icelandic glacial water, filtered through volcanic rock, is mixed into Martin Miller’s Gin.
Martin Miller’s Gin co-founder David Bromige and I were standing on a cliff overlooking the crashing waters that flowed from a lava field just north of the Martin Miller’s distillery in Borganes, Iceland.
I had to ask Bromige, “Why go to all that trouble of adding Icelandic water to British gin?”
“We draw our water from deep in the ground,” he explained. “This is water that fell as rain and snow maybe 1,000 years ago, when the Earth was a cleaner, purer place. As it melts, it goes through a lava field about 900 meters thick. The water then slowly passes through very fine veins that filter it.”
Though purity is important, it’s only part of the story.
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“As we examined why Icelandic water had such a strong effect on our gin, we discovered it isn’t just the purity of the water that’s important, but the fact that we don’t de-mineralize it,” Bromige says. “Most spirit brands use de-mineralized water, and that de-mineralization process affects surface tension, which affects how quickly the water evaporates. The water in our gin doesn’t evaporate as quickly, it stays in the mix, so our gin has a very soft nose, with juniper and other elements subdued.”
If you prefer gin with more botanical notes, Hendrick’s or Bombay Sapphire might be more to your liking. If you prefer more dialed-down botanicals, Martin Miller’s is a mellower choice. Why? It’s the water.