Sabre versus Champagne

Thanks to Rob Schumacher for inviting us to join he, his wife Theresa, and friend John Wells to visit the St Regis Deer Valley for the hotel's daily champagne toast.  Every evening around sunset, one of the bar's employees comes out with a short sabre in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other.  First he tells a story going back to Napoleon's time to explain the tradition.

Then he takes the sabre, quickly runs it along the edge of the bottle, and literally lops the top of the bottle, cork and all. Even though it breaks the glass, the pressure from the champagne blows all the debris away from the beverage, leaving a nice bottle to pour.

All the better, they offer free champagne to all the guests for a toast.  Very unique and fun to watch.