Champagne Power Hour Starts Now

Welcome to Champagne Power Hour. For the next 60 minutes sites across the Eater Universe will focus on all things champers, the preferred drinks of whales past, present, and future. We're talking sabering, sparklers, the Ace of Spades, and Balthazars, Salmanazars, Methuselahs and Jeroboams galore. Let's get this party started, right here on the live blog.

3:01 p.m.: To start, let's have one of the world's top chef nerds Alton Brown school everyone in the tips and tricks for opening, chilling, and drinking "daddy's medicine," below, in a clip from his appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

3:05 p.m.: Over on Eater Vegas we take a look at some of Michael Mina's priciest champagnes, including a bottle of 1990 Salon "Le Mesnil," Le Mesnil-sur-Oger for $2,010.

3:11 p.m.: Champagne Fact Blast: In 1997, divers discovered a shipwrecked shipment of over 200 bottles of Champagne from the esteemed Heidsieck & Co. Monopole vineyard in France, worth roughly $275,000. Some of these 1907 vintage bottles, which were intended for the Russian Imperial family, were sold at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow for $33,000 a pop. [Eater NY]

3:12: Here's a fun fact via Eater Atlanta: 'Atlanta Champagne,' as defined by Urban Dictionary, is "Coca Cola served in a glass, all fancy like."

3:14 p.m.: Remember Alton's sabering skills. It doesn't always go as smoothly. Seeing sabering gone wrong is actually a pretty solid way to kill five minutes. Check out here, here, here, here, here, and here. Or, how about opening a bottle with an iPad?

3:18 p.m.: Want to know where to find the best champagne cocktails in Chicago? We've got you covered, from the traditional Champagne Cocktails to French 75s, a Champagne Smash, and a Devil Anise.

[Photo: Josh Brasted]
3:23 p.m.: Sylvain, the beloved gastropub in the French Quarter in New Orleans, is home to the city's most outrageously expensive appetizers, French Fries and Champagne at $50/$90 a serving. Owner, Sean McCusker, tells Eater the story about how the dish came to be.

3:26 p.m.: Over on Eater Boston, how about a picture of a Champagne colored Boston Terrier?

3:32 p.m.: When the Grill Room opens in Georgetown later this year, it will feature a champagne cart, featuring 8 - 10 labels.

3:36 p.m.: Want to know where else to drink champagne? Here are guides in Dallas and Boston and DC and Houston. Or how about bottomless mimosas in Atlanta? Or more Champagne Cocktails in NYC?

3:38 p.m.: One perhaps overlooked fact of the uber-expensive "Ace of Spades" 30-liter bottle of Armand de Brignac, a favorite of whales, celebs, and sports stars: the gratuity alone on that bottle is $30,000.

3:43 p.m.: How far will the people at NYC party spot Lavo go to customize experiences for guests spending tens of thousands of dollars on champagne? They'll bedazzle bottles, send out bottles on chariots with waitresses throwing rose petals, dress the girls up like boxers for boxing fans, and so on. At the very least, they'll get sparklers and confetti. At Marquee in Vegas, they'll dress up like pandas.

3:55 p.m.: Also in Vegas, Restaurant Guy Savoy has a Krug room, featuring champagnes from the House of Krug paired with Guy Savoy's tasting menu. It costs $750 a head.

3:59 p.m: In closing, another Champagne Fact Blast: Legend has it that the "coupe" — a broad-bowled, rimmed goblet commonly used to serve Champagne at weddings — was crafted using wax molds in order to recreate the shape of Marie Antoinette's bosom. [Eater NY]