ENJOYAGLASS--OR8

Move over wine, because water's bubbling up the beverage ladder with an equal amount of epicurean snobbery. -- Kristine Hansen

Michael Mascha's book Fine Waters: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Most Distinctive Bottled Waters (Quirk Books) provides as much detail (minerality, hardness, food pairings) as you'd find on the label of a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Mascha has even developed a four-level rating system, from Still to Bold.

"Water is not just a commodity. It should be treated as a product with natural terroir," Mascha says. Case in point: the Restaurant at the Setai in Miami Beach recently introduced a water-pairing menu. "If you want to be a top-end hotel or restaurant, you also have to pay attention to the water, giving more options than still or sparkling." Other offerings could include rainwater (Tasmania is one great source for this), springwater (free-flowing water), artesian water (which flows from underground to the surface under natural pressure, without having to be pumped), and glacier iceberg water. There are about 3,000 brands of water from all over the world on the market, and in 2007 the industry was a $10 billion business, up from $5 billion in 2000.