• Failed Accountant   • Toast Master   • Admiral in the Alabama Navy

'The Brotherhood of the Golden Saber!

I flew down to South Beach's wonderful Loew's hotel to meet with the gracious Eva Gilbert, Ambassade des Etats-Unis de Confrérie du Sabre d'Or - the Brotherhood of the Golden Saber - a tradition that dates back to the Napoleonic era! Before she would knight me in this auspicious order, I had to saber a bottle of bubbly!

Then in a wonderful French accent, she put the saber on my shoulder and I was inducted as a 'Maitre Sabreur' - ('Master of Sabering') authorized by the powers that be (in Champagne bien sur) to teach the noble art and hence spreading the word on how not to spill a drop!

I can teach you how to do it! As you can see Eddie Murphy and Omar Sharif needed no help - others need a little more direction!

Two hundred years ago, dashing young cavalry officers in the French Army would slice the cork off the Champagne bottle with the saber, rather than put themselves to the effort of removing the wire basket and easing the cork out. The art of 'Sabrage' is meeting the glass annulus at the top of the bottle below the cork with a firm tap of the saber's edge, at the weakest point of the glass seam in the bottle.

When performed on a suitably chilled bottle of Champagne, the cork and glass annulus fly away, spilling little of the precious wine. The pressure of the Champagne always ensures that no glass falls back into the bottle, and the cork flies away from spectators.
Have a look at some of the pictures from my Sabering Hall of Fame!!

Next: Add Port and become a Knight of the Saber and Tong!