How To Open A Bottle Of Champagne With A Sword
Learn how to open a bottle of champagne the cavalry way. Designed to impress and not for the faint of heart. A real crowd-pleaser that will totally amaze an audience!!
-
Step 1:
-
You will need
-
Step 2:
-
Prepare the champagne
-
Make sure you use chilled champagne that has not been shaken.
Top tip: Unless you're loaded, you may want to practice on a cheap bottle of champagne or cava before attempting this on your favourite vintage. Captain Campbell-Jones is an expert so he doesn't have to.
Take the bottle from the ice bucket and remove any moisture with a napkin.
Holding the bottle firmly, peel away the foil and carefully remove the cage.
-
Step 3:
-
Locate the crease
-
As with all enemies even a bottle of champagne has an Achilles heal. This is called the crease. It's the seam that joins the two halves of the bottle together and is at it's weakest where it meets the lip. This is where you need to strike.
-
Step 4:
-
Select your weapon
-
A short heavy metal sword is ideal but most swords will work. You will not be using the cutting edge so for safety it's better that the sword is blunt.
-
Step 5:
-
Take aim
-
The cork and top of the bottle will fly off with quite some force so choose your trajectory carefully and never point the top of the bottle at your audience.
-
Step 6:
-
Sword at the ready
-
Hold the bottle firmly and parallel to the floor.
Grip the swords handle and place the flat side of the blade horizontally against the side of the bottle with the blunt end facing the cork.
Make sure that the blade is at a right angle with the neck of the bottle so that as much of it's surface will hit the lip as possible.
-
Step 7:
-
Fire!
-
Slide the sword along the bottle to get a feel for the movement. When you are ready and in one firm, fluid movement slide the blade up the bottle's neck so it connects with the lip at the point of the crease. The cork and the top of the bottle should fly out.
-
Step 8:
-
Spill
-
Allow some champagne to gush out before you return it to the vertical position so that any shards of glass are washed away.
-
Step 9:
-
Pour
-
All the glass should have been removed but after you have poured the champagne hold it up to the light to check for any stray pieces.
Do not touch the top of the bottle there may be some very sharp edges.