When it’s time to break out the bubbly, make sure you open the bottle the right way!

This Champagne Key at Gent Supply Co. eliminates foaming and spilling. It also makes opening champagne so simple that you won’t worry for a second that you’ll put someone’s eye out.

How to Open a Bottle of Champagne
Champagne Cocktail Recipes

There are so many fun gadgets associated with drinking! Here’s a fun one for the wine geeks — a wine bottle thermometer.

It has markings for the optimal serving temperature for different varieties of wine. So no more wondering how cold that Gewurtztraminer should be.

And, hey, it’s a lot cheaper than buying a special wine fridge …

Wine Bottle Thermometer @ Crate and Barrel

Decanters not only let your wine and booze open up, they also look great at your bar.

This Kai Decanter from Crate and Barrel is a simple yet elegant gift find. It’s handblown glass with clean, classic lines …

then at the stopper there’s a little effervescence in the form of tiny bubbles!

Oh, and for about $40 it won’t make your wallet cry.

Kai Decanter @ Crate and Barrel

Update: Contest is closed. Winner will be announced soon.

Drink of the Week and Chivas are celebrating the Holiday Season with a fun giveaway.

What are we giving away you ask?

The lucky winner receives a Chivas Cocktail Kit (pictured). The kit contains a dizzying array of bar tools all wrapped up in a handy leather carrier. Show up with this kit and folks will know you mean business. No matter where you find yourself, you ‘ll be ready. Of course, if you find yourself at a party, make a punch and go have some fun!

How do you enter the give away?

Give us you favorite Chivas cocktail or story in the comments below. That’s it. It is that simple.*(see below for complete details)

Chivas Cocktail Kit

Leather/suede roll-up carrier
2 piece Boston Shaker
2 different style strainers
Jigger
3 speed pour tops
Wine/Beer bottle opener
Wooden Muddler
Citrus Juicer
3 small spray bottles/misters
2 different garnish peelers
2 garnish knives
Leather-bound notebook & Pen

* Open to US residents of legal drinking age. One entry per person. No purchase required. Valid email required. Entries must be received by midnight PST, Dec 14, 2009. Winner to be chosen at random.

for more about Chivas Regal Scotch

At the recent Nightclub & Bar Conference in Las Vegas I had the pleasure to attend a seminar lead by Georg Riedel. What a treat, not only did I learn first hand from a Master about fine glassware and how it enhances all types of spirits, but I learned how the Reidel family figured it all out. Said Greog to my question, “We’ve been doing this a long time”. And they have, the family run Austrian company has been making glass for 11 generations of Riedels, over 250 years.

The tasting ran through 5 glasses and three spirits. The glassware consisted of a plastic cup, and ordinary brandy snifter and a Riedel Scotch, Cognac and Tequila glass. The specialized glasses bring out the unique flavor profile of each spirit. The spirits we tasted were Patron Silver Tequila, Hennessy VSOP and Talisker 12 Year Single Malt Scotch.

We were first asked to try each spirit in the plastic cup, ok kinda blah. Not bad, but not great. Next came the brandy snifter supplied by the caterers. We were told this glass was designed to withstand being tossed against the wall, not for drinking fine cognac. The cognac was better in this glass than the plastic cup, but it is not much of a competition.

We then moved on to the Riedel glasses. Each is designed to bring our the unique flavors of the spirit. This is achieved through an combination of height, diameter and shape of the glass bowl. The height of the stem is purely aesthetic. First by trying cognac from each of the three glasses. It was incredible how the same Hennessy VSOP tasted in the three different glasses. Of course the most pleasing of the three samples came from the cognac glass. All the fruity goodness and none of the harsh alcohol were detected. We repeated the exercise with the Takisker and Patron with similar results each time.

Of course, your not going to use these for a cocktail, but for sipping the finer cognacs, single malt scotch and tequilas. However, if you enjoy drinking the fine spirits and want to experience then the way they were meant to be, invest in a set of Riedel glasses.

They’ve been doing this a long time.

Riedel Glas Austria

Buy Riedel Bar Glasses Here

This Black Box bar gadget set looks smooth.

It includes a cocktail “compass” that gives common cocktail recipes, a two-sided jigger, a corkscrew, a wine collar, a wine and a spirits pouring spout and a foil cutter.

Whether you buy it for your own bar or give it as a stylish housewarming gift, this bar set is pretty slick.

Bar Gadget Set @ Crate & Barrel

The Bottle ‘Biner is the three-in-one tool I had no idea I needed. But I do need it. Thanks to the fine folks at FRED, there is one handy gadget that serves as a corkscrew, bottle opener and carabiner.

Now you’ll be prepared to go on that beer and wine nature hike you’ve always wanted to plan. You’re welcome.

(Hopefully unnecessary disclaimer: You can attach this handy carabiner to your backpack, belt or purse, and that seems pretty neat. What you cannot do is use it while climbing or use it as a part of your safety system. So don’t do that. It’s just for fun, folks.)

Bottle ‘Biner by Fred @ X-treme Geek