Water at £19 a bottle (‘You’re either going to be a pioneer or a joke’, 28 August)(Meet the water sommeliers: they believe H₂O can rival wine – but would you pay £19 a bottle?, 28 August)? What a load of rubbish. Far better to order a free glass of tap water. At an Open University summer school some years ago, students were invited to take part in a trial. All were given 10 lots of two samples, Nottingham tap water and Highland Spring. There were enough participants over the weeks for a statistical sample. Answer? They could not tell the difference. Incidentally, licensed premises are obliged to provide free tap water on request. Refusing to do would be a breach of their licence condition.
Rosalind Clayton
London
• Perhaps Joe Rawlins and Gaëlle Radigon, the owners of La Popote restaurant, could consider putting tap water on the menu as “Corporation Pop”, as we called it when I was a child in Manchester. If you wanted it fizzy, just shake it. The omission of Buxton water from their list is a crime.
Chris Walters
Buxton, Derbyshire
• As a non-drinker, I can readily tell between my Vichy Catalan (my favourite) and my Badoit green bottle or Badoit red bottle (second favourite), all naturally carbonated. Would I pay £19 for a bottle of water I haven’t yet tried? 100%. What’s the difference between this and a fermented grape or a distilled grain? Those who don’t drink alcohol need more of this. Water is not simply just water. And what’s more, it’s good for you.
Siân Miller
Guildford, Surrey
• Simon Usborne enjoys a water menu at a Cheshire restaurant, but sampling craft water is nothing new. In 1874, Karl Marx was in Karlsbad – still known for its artisan waters – to imbibe spring waters for health reasons. Marx, who liked a pilsner beer, was rather grumpy about it, writing to Engels on 18 September 1874 that drinking the water made him irritable.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London
• Betteridge’s law of headlines states that if it ends with a question mark, the answer is almost always “no”. The headline on the front cover of last Thursday’s G2 print section is a prime example: “They believe H2O can rival wine – but would you pay £19 for a bottle?”
Nick Swallow
Worminghall, Buckinghamshire
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