Around three and a half years ago, Julia Strasdauskas couldn’t get out of bed. The normally hard-charging publicist was going through a grueling regimen of fertility treatments that leveled her. A ritual she used to enjoy — ordering a glass of wine while out at dinner with her husband — made her feel worse.
She began looking for alternatives. At a restaurant, a bottle of nice sparkling mineral water fit the bill, and made her feel better, too. She eventually installed a Berkey filter for the well water she drinks at home. She added trace minerals from Australia to each glass before sipping.
For Strasdauskas, staying hydrated has helped with everything from chapped lips to recurring headaches. “I don’t wake up in the middle of the night like so thirsty I have to chug a glass of water,” she said. “All of that has just gotten better.”
At a time when more people are choosing not to drink alcohol and the nonalcoholic beverage market is exploding, there’s growing interest in the most fundamental drink of all. Water — with minerals, without minerals, carbonated or still, flavored or not — all manner of water is in.
When Strasdauskas eventually became pregnant, hydration took on even more importance. Expectant mothers are advised to drink 100 oz. of water a day, adding electrolytes to ensure the fluid is absorbed into their cells. And now, as she’s breastfeeding her almost-9-month-old son, Gus, drinking plenty of water helps her maintain her milk supply.
In the kitchen of her home in Monkton, she mixed an “adrenal mocktail,” a combination of young coconut water, citrus juice and Celtic sea salt that she says gives her an afternoon boost in place of coffee. She added a glass straw.
“I think so much of drinking is the ritual of it and being fun and special,” she said.
Sure, you need water to survive. But, said Modern World owner Laurie Hefner, “I like water as a recreational beverage.”
Hefner opened Modern World in Hampden, a store specializing in nonalcoholic beverages, last November. Before that, she worked in the wine world. Just like wine, water has its own complexities, she said.
“People talk about minerality in wine all the time,” she said. But while you can quantify the number of minerals in a glass of water, you can’t actually measure the minerality of wine — it’s more of a perception. Taste different brands side by side and the distinction will be clear.
And like wine, water has a story.
The Vichy Catalan water that Hefner carries at Modern World comes from an aquifer in Spain where the water is 10,000 years old; it’s been a working aquifer for drinking and bathing since the late 1800s. It’s “heavy,” she said, with dozens of minerals and bicarbonate reminiscent of Alka-Seltzer.
Not all bottled waters are created equal, says Martin Riese, a certified water sommelier and influencer who Strasdauskas follows on Instagram. Born in Germany, Riese has dedicated his social media page to debunking marketing myths in the water world and promoting brands that sell mineral or spring water naturally high in magnesium and other nutrients.
Riese, who did not respond to an interview request, touts Gerolsteiner Sprudel from the Eifel mountains in Germany and sold at Wegman’s as one of his favorites. He said a bottle of that has more calcium than a glass of milk. But Riese advises his followers to stay away from brands like Smart Water and Aquafina, which are basically tap water and don’t offer anything you can’t get from the sink.
A passion for hydration isn’t a new phenomenon.
In the 19th century, thirsty Baltimore residents traveled by train 30 miles north of the city to Bentley’s Springs, where a 40-room hotel allowed them to take advantage of the nearby waters, which were believed to have great medicinal value. Around the same time near modern-day Pikesville, a Baltimore County resident began marketing the naturally carbonated “Strontia” water found on his land as a cure for every conceivable disease.
The Chattolanee Spring Water Co. was founded in 1890 to market water from Baltimore’s Greenspring Valley. As recently as 1994, Baltimoreans might trek to Chattolanee Hill Road to fill up their jugs with water from a spring there. Today, Sagamore Spirit claims its products are made with the calcium-rich limestone water from a spring on Sagamore Farm in Reisterstown.
Then again, there may be something to be said for Baltimore’s good, old-fashioned tap water.
Sean Brennan, head brewer at Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Halethorpe, says the low-mineral local H2O happens to be perfect for making a wide variety of beers, from fruited sour to IPAs.
“It’s the most crucial ingredient in beer that people [overlook] all the time,” Brennan said. “Beer is water. You’re adding a couple things to it.” Baltimoreans, he thinks, should be proud of our water.
