If you're desperately looking for a way to burn a hundred grand before tax season begins, you may want to look into buying this golden Armand de Brignac bottle, because at least you'll catch a little buzz while you shelter your assets. Anyway, Midas is OK but we're Meineke fans all the way - George Foreman FTW.
The myth of King Midas, the man who was blessed (and cursed) with the ability to turn anything he touched to gold, has inspired many things but few as lavish as Midas bottle from Armand de Brignac. According to wine bottle naming code, Melchizedek is the term usually used to describe a 30-liter vessel equivalent to 40 regular-sized 750ml bottles but perhaps Midas makes more sense for this bottle which weighs in at 100 pounds.
It seems like someone "discovers" how to saber champagne once a year or so and puts it up on the Web. We unearthed a champagne sabering video back in 2009, and our man on the street Andrew has found a video from 2007 that was just covered by the folks at science fiction site IO9. Andrew's take:
Here is the annual "how to saber" video - this time a month too late to be useful for New Years. However, (author Esther) writes a pretty humorous post with some interesting science and technique behind sabering. I'm surprised to see this on IO9 though - perhaps the "Lightsabering champagne" comment at the end grants it access to the sci-fi realm.
In fact this is a lot more interesting than the typical "ZOMG U CAN OPENZ BOTTLEZ WITH SWORDZ!!1!" post, which is what we more or less did - though we stick with our original seppuku advice. We were pretty fascinated with IO9's explanation of why you the bottle doesn't go all shardy when you saber it open. That's right Andrew - Esther blinded you with SCIENCE.
Yes, that's right - we said Bosch, like the power tool people. While this bottle-opening beauty isn't available here in the states right now, you can get your hands on it at Amazon UK if you're drooling over it as much as we are. Just think of the BPMs (Bottles Per Minute) you'll achieve with four volts of cordless power!
It's really just a 4-volt Bosch screwdriver with a funky corkscrew attachment, but we're going to ignore the fact that the tool can be used like any other screwdriver and pretend that it can only be used for opening wine bottles.
No word on whether you can get just the attachment for your existing cordless screwdriver, but we can always dream. [via the handsome gentlemen over at our sister site Tool Snob]
Now that the 33 trapped Chilean miners are home safe, we suppose it's time someone released a product referencing them. Actually someone probably has, and this one isn't cashing in as much as being clever, because this seems pretty tasteful. Finally - if you're just dying to find out how Florencio Alvaros tastes, now's your chance.
Each bottle is named after one of the rescued miners and numbered in order of their resurfacing. Each bottle comes in a tube representing the Fénix 2 rescue capsule, and is buried beneath a layer of rocks. As recipients dig out their wine, they reveal a replica of the message sent up to rescuers which exclaimed "Estamos bien en el refugio los 33", meaning "We are okay in the refuge, the 33 of us".
Last week we gave you some liquor-related gift ideas, and in our opinion one of the coolest ideas was the decanter. We can't think of anyone who wouldn't be stoked to open up a box to a classy display mechanism for their booze...but maybe that's just a function of the people we hang out with.
One glaring omission was the lack of a wine decanter in the list, so today we present you the Esperienze - an 88-ounce wine decanter blown from lead-free glass in Italy. This decanter features a concentric ripple design to increase your wine's oxygenation, and in our opinion the best part - it's dishwasher safe.
Edit: We just noticed this particular decanter won't ship for 3-5 weeks, which could make it tough as a gift for Christmas; check out these other wine decanters if you need something a little bit more post-haste.
Maybe this isn't a problem everyone runs into, but we certainly have - you've gotten your hands on a bottle of wine, but you've forgotten or misplaced your corkscrew. This has been a frustrating experience for us - especially since we can open a beer on just about anything - but usually we end up pushing the cork down into the bottle and having to deal with a floating obstruction as we try to pour it.
Turns out there's a much better way, and you're probably wearing the only tool you need for opening that damned bottle - a shoe. Check out Dr. Vino for a whole slew of alternative methods for opening wine. (Thanks for sending the link to Wimp.com, Doug, but we couldn't figure out how to embed that shit in 30 seconds or less)
Behold, the greatest corkscrew in the universe! Why is it the greatest? Because it's shaped like, well...a ship from Star Trek. We're not ones to call out ThinkGeek on matters, well, geeky, but they say on their page that this little guy is shaped like a Klingon Bird of Prey. We think it looks more like a Romulan Raptor, but we've been wrong before, and hey - if it opens your bottle, do you really care?
We've been excited to try out the Vinturi Aerator, especially considering the fact we'd never given much thought to decanting white wine, or even letting it "breathe" as we might a red. Vinturi was kind enough to send us a model to review, and when we opened the box we were impressed with the heft of the vaguely cylindrical gizmo that greeted us, and pleasantly surprised to find a no-drip stand and cloth storage bag as well.
We peeked through the Aerator, unsure how much effect it would really have on our wine, but decided to take it at face value. We poured two glasses from the same unchilled bottle of the best Chardonnay we could get at the supermarket for $3.49, one directly from the bottle and the other through the Aerator.
It sloshed through the gadget with a satisfying glugging sound, and we were fascinated by the bubbles we saw in the chamber, and if nothing else we felt like we got our money's worth for the show alone. But would it fulfill its promises of a tastier glass of wine?
We took the two aforementioned glasses of wine, and we put them in front of our Senior Wine Intern, asking for a blind taste test of the contents of the glasses, to identify which had been aerated. After going through the tasting rigamarole, our intern correctly identified the aerated wine, saying the flavor and bouquet were subtly, but noticeably improved. Further tasting with other interns confirmed the positive review - this thing really works, especially on wine that starts out not-so-hot. The price tag may seem high, especially for those who don't drink much wine, but it strikes us as a great gift and an exciting addition to the gadget-hound's wine rack.
We've been on a wine kick lately, and we recently got an email about a product that intrigues us quite a bit. A while back, we wrote about the Vinturi Wine Aerator for red wine, which we called "scuba gear for your wine." Little did we know you can also get an aerator for white wine - we're winos without being wine snobs, and we'd never really heard about people aerating whites. Anyone had luck with something like this?
Specially designed for white wine, the Vinturi Essential White Wine Aerator delivers a better bouquet, enhanced flavors and smoother finish to your favorite Chardonnay, Viognier or Sauvignon Blanc. When wine is poured in the Vinturi, its design creates an increase in the wine's velocity and a decrease in its pressure. This pressure difference draws in air, which is mixed with wine for perfect aeration.
The claim is the better aeration leads to better aroma, flavor, and even mouth feel. Who knew?
For some reason, the staff here at Liquor Snob have had a wild hair this autumn to try our hands at making our own wine. We've done some brewing in the past (we're no Brew Dudes, but we can hold our own), but winemaking has always seemed daunting. There's the longer maturation period, for one thing, and while we'd guzzle pretty much anything beer-shaped, we've been worried that our natural laxity about things like "cleanliness" and "reading directions" would leave us holding whole mess of vinegar.
Nevertheless, we decided to start out with some country wine, made with fruit we've picked ourselves, and we've got the Fruit Wine Making Kit to prove it. Our only problem? A complete and total lack of knowhow about how to get started or even what to make. Which is where Making Wild Wines & Meads: 125 Unusual Recipes Using Herbs, Fruits, Flowers & More (Amazon) comes in. With more than 100 recipes, including mead for when we're feeling a bit renaissance faire, we're sure there's a wine in there we'll be able to make without embarrassing ourselves. Here's hoping, anyway.
As you probably imagine, when we think "Dad," we usually think "sake bomb." Thankfully, TY KU sake has finally made that connection explicit with their Father's Day sake bomb set.
With no need to heat this premium sake, TY KU encourages experimentation and invites you to 'Sip it, Mix it, or Bomb it!' - Perfect for your dad who has taught you to remain flexible and versatile throughout your years.
So if you're looking to get your dad bombed on sake this year, you know where to turn for about $30. Finally!
In a piece of news we wouldn't cover in a million years if not for two awesome reasons, Scarlett Johansson is going to be fronting the bubbly. Not for nothing, Luxist, but we think our picture is better. OK, can't talk now, staring.
Moet & Chandon has a new face for its champagne, the first movie star to front for the brand. They introduced celebrity spokesperson, Scarlett Johansson at the "Tribute to Cinema" gala at London's Big Sky studio.
Ah, Massachusetts. Though it's a longtime home of liberal politics and conservative drinking laws, boozers in the Bay State recently won a victory due to a federal court overturning outdated laws about shipping wine to private homes. However, MA's Attorney General is fighting to overturn this boon, for reasons unknown (and unfathomable) to us. We're all for shopping local, but this is just the kind of throwback Puritanical bullshit that helped drive us away from Massachusetts in the first place, so we're not all that surprised.
Despite a decisive opinion and remedy order by widely respected U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley will spend taxpayer dollars to appeal the judge's decision, which promised an expansion of consumer choice in fine wine.
What can you do? If you live in Mass you can head over to Free the Grape and send a letter to good old Martha (who we picture clocking in at 200 years old). If you live anywhere else, order some wine online in solidarity for your dry-lipped brothers and sisters, who have to drive all the way to a real liquor store for their wine. If you're not sure what to get, head over to our sister site Cheap Fun Wines for ideas.
Image via Celebrate Boston (We cherish the city; that's why we moved away)
Let's face it, kids...Valentine's Day is on its way, and if things go right you'll probably be opening a bottle of the bubbly. What better way to impress the object of your affection than by opening them a bottle of champagne...with a sword? The technique, apparently called "sabering" looks pretty simple, and is WAY impressive.
Just make sure you alert your flame somewhere between pulling out the champagne bottle and drawing a sword, to keep them from thinking you're about to perform seppuku or engage in murder/suicide. We're not the most romantic guys on the Web, but we think that might kind of spoil the glow of the evening.
$100,000 Champagne Bottle With the Midas Touch
Last week we gave you some 
Behold, the greatest corkscrew in the universe! Why is it the greatest? Because it's shaped like, well...a ship from Star Trek. We're not ones to call out ThinkGeek on matters, well, geeky, but they say on their page that this little guy is shaped like a Klingon Bird of Prey. We think it looks more like a Romulan Raptor, but we've been wrong before, and hey - if it opens your bottle, do you really care? 
We've been excited to try out the 
We've been on a wine kick lately, and we recently got an email about a product that intrigues us quite a bit. A while back, we wrote about the 
For some reason, the staff here at Liquor Snob have had a wild hair this autumn to try our hands at making our own wine. We've done some brewing in the past (we're no 
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