Shake up your holiday gathering this year by beheading your bottle of bubbly. “Sabering”—lobbing off the cork with a sword—is a time-honored tradition in Europe. A knife will sub just fine for an actual saber.
Your guide for this upmarket party trick: Jennifer Sollinger, the beverage manager at Buckhead’s St. Regis Atlanta. She sabers a bottle of Heidsieck & Co. Monopole Champagne Blue Top Brut every evening at six, an homage to the hotel’s founder and original swordslinger, John Jacob Astor IV. Follow the steps below carefully to make a splash (and not a mess).
This article originally appeared in our December 2013 issue.