It’s officially New Year’s Eve. If your not planning to pop a bottle of Champagne open the second the ball drops and 2014 hits, then you’re not celebrating right. It’s a time-honored tradition to get the bubbly flowing, even if you don’t even like bubbly.
It’s also a time-honored tradition to open Champagne in obnoxious ways all year long. Sports teams pop bottles after championship wins; rappers rap about popping bottles; and sometimes, rappers rap about popping bottles like they won a championship sports game (see below).
As commonplace as the Champagne bottle pop is, there’s still an art to it. There’s a skill to the angle at which one flicks the cork to let it fly. And for the real pros, the boldest maneuver is taking a saber or a sword and slashing the bottle’s neck. It’s called Le Sabrage, and the whole technique dates back to Napoleon and the French Revolution. Because Napoleon liked sabers and drinking Champagne, he’d throw lavish dinner parties and his cavalry would pop bottles with their weapons. We’ve gone soft since then, but we’re still popping mad bottles.
In honor of New Year’s Eve, the only night the whole world is Champagne toasting unison, we’ve put together some GIF inspiration to get your ready for action. That means Drake, Elvis, Hayden Panettiere, Chris Bosh, and many more (mostly awesome, except Chris Bosh‚shots fired!) human beings popping bottles.
Click through the gallery above to witness the glory of a well-popped bottle.
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