Water is a functional beverage behind the bar: It can enhance (or undermine) the taste of cocktails, syrups, ice, and almost everything else.
In this seminar, Camper English explores how different types of water impact our cocktails, and why you might want to choose one over another for different purposes. We’ll briefly look at the role water plays in fermentation, spirits production, and flavor extraction, but focus on practical bar applications including the choice of fizz for highballs like Whiskey Sodas and Ranch Waters. We’ll learn how and why the source, mineral content, and carbonation level of bottled waters changes the flavor of drinks, and then conduct a highball tasting experiment together to prove it.
Why You Should Attend:
Understand how mineral content and carbonation affect cocktail flavor and texture
Learn why the best tasting water often makes the worst tasting drinks!
Taste for yourself the difference that changing the water in your highballs can make
Learn how some bars highlight water programs or make their own in-house water blends
Track: Technique + Creativity
PRESENTED BY
Camper English
Author and Educator: Cocktails and Spirits
Camper English is a San Francisco-based cocktails and spirits writer, educator, and speaker whose work has appeared in Popular Science, Saveur, Food & Wine, Whisky Advocate, the San Francisco Chronicle, Drinks International, The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, and dozens more. He is the author of Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails (2022) and The Ice Book: Cool Cubes, Clear Spheres, and Other Chill Cocktail Crafts (2023), which won Best New Cocktail or Bartending Book at the 2024 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards — and his writing has been cited in at least 30 additional books. Beyond the page, he is a consultant to bars and brands, a cocktail creator for events and tastings, and the founder of both Alcademics.com and CocktailSafe.org.
Camper is widely recognized as the pioneer of the "directional freezing" technique for making perfectly clear ice, now used by bartenders around the world. He has visited over 140 distilleries, blending houses, and bodegas across 25+ countries, and brings that depth of expertise to his roles as a judge for the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the James Beard Awards, and the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, among others. A three-time Bar World 100 honoree and former international polling coordinator for the World's 50 Best Bars, Camper is one of the most respected and well-traveled voices in the global drinks industry.
Bartender’s Circle Summit: Industry Session
This session is part of the Bartender’s Circle Summit and is strictly intended for members of the global hospitality industry. To attend this masterclass, you must have a BCS Class Pass. Our summit programming at Pacific Place is a dedicated space for professionals to sharpen their craft, delve into spirit categories like Cognac and Pisco, and learn from the industry’s most respected leaders.
Want to see the full curriculum? Find out more here.
Ready to level up? Get your Class Pass below.