Video shows moment party-goer’s attempt to open Champagne with knife goes horribly wrong

While ‘sabering’ Champagne might seem like a good idea and something of a flex at a party, when it goes wrong, it can go very badly wrong. Just take this footage as proof…

Sabrage is a technique whereby the wielder dramatically opens a bottle of Champagne with a sabre. It’s an impressive site and examples of the spectacle are easy to find on video-sharing app TikTok.

Here’s an example of sabering done correctly:

@samthecookingguy How to #saber ♬ original sound – SAM THE COOKING GUY

Now look, we could debate the wisdom of doing this at the best of times, but when it goes horribly wrong, as it did for this party-goer, the results are spectacular. And not in a good way.

According to The Daily Mail, the incident took place on 1 January in Missouri, United States. The footage shows the would-be sabre-er hit the neck of the bottle repeatedly with his implement, but with no succcess.

On the man’s third try, the Champagne bottle slips from his hands and smashes on the floor, covering him in Champagne as he laughs at his own misfortune.

You can watch the video for yourself here:

As is perhaps obvious to the keen-eyed viewer, there is plenty of scope for sabering to go wrong. Indeed, in 2019, a video surfaced that appears to show the general manager of French Laundry, Michael Minnillo, completely destroying a Nebuchadnezzar of Champagne using what can only be described as a questionable sabrage technique.

According to the poster of the video, the Champagne in question was Billecart-Salmon, with a Nebuchadnezzar (15-litre) bottle of the classic brut coming in at roughly US$2,000.

You can read more on that story here.

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