Aqueous gastronomy

Aqueous Gastronomy was a Free University course taught during the winter studies of the 2022-2023 and 2024-2025 academic years by Locke Meyer '25 and Felix King '25. Tasting, analyzing, and discussing sparkling water was the basis of the course, but class sessions involved forays into many disciplines unrelated to sparkling water including literature, philosophy, music, manufacturing/engineering, history, anthropology, and chemistry/alchemy.

First Iteration (2023)

The first version of the course ran for four weeks and met once per week in Hollander room 241. Origin stories often begin with Professors King and Meyer tasting LaCroix's limoncello flavored water. As the story goes, after searching online and finding a now-defunct website dedicated to sparkling water reviews (the Bubbleverse), they decided to "take the plunge" and develop the curriculum for Aqueous Gastronomy.

Concept Album

Meyer, a music and computer science double major, composed and recorded 10 songs inspired by components of the course. The full track list is:

• The Carbonated Sea
• Brownrigg's Jig
• Mint Cucumber
• Hiss Pop
• Ascent / Tangerine
• Shaking the Can
• Dry Ice
• Rot
• Big Idea
• We Have a Package That Arrived for You That Is Leaking and Has an Odor

Meyer uploaded the album to Spotify upon its completion on January 6, 2023, but removed it from the platform a few months later due to the hosting fee charged by Distrokid. The album in its entirety can still be found on Meyer's personal Youtube channel.

Corporate Sponsorships

The class was sponsored by three sparkling water companies, DRAM Apothecary, Aura Bora, and Something and Nothing. Each company sent King and Meyer cans of their water free of charge.

Company	Number of Cans
DRAM Apothecary	48 cans
Something and Nothing	36 cans
Aura Bora	12 cans