The Emergency Room Mixology Monday

I was completely set to write this Mixology Monday post on our feature drink of the week I had created at the bar on Monday: The Rosemarriage. I really wanted to do something refreshing as summer was closing down, so I knew fizz was where it was at. Vodka, lime juice, a rosemary simple syrup, and soda water made a wonderful thirst quenching marriage of rosemary (nobody liked my attempt at a clever name). However, a casual trip to a table on our bar patio completely changed my view on things, literally.

It was an ordinary table of guests. It was about 5:00 in the evening, and the sun was still beating down pretty hard. A couple of ladies had just chosen a table outside and were ready to start their Friday off right. I brought out some water, and a couple of plates and silverware rolls because they had indicated they would be ordering food. They order a bottle of champagne, and I promptly brought the proper setup out to the table: 2 glasses, a bottle of champagne, and an ice bucket and stand. I presented the champagne and removed the foil. Then, the ladies began moving things around on their table, and I realized that it would be difficult to pour the champagne with the waters, plates, and two ENORMOUS purses positioned on the table in their current state. I had begun to twist the cage open, but I had openly made two rotations on the cage’s twisted portion (I don’t know what you would call this part of the cage, but you know what I mean). It wasn’t really proper to stop the wine presentation, but I thought that I needed to rearrange the table to pour the champagne correctly. I put the bottle down in the bucket to my right, not thinking that the champagne had been opened enough to be any threat whatsoever. I should have pointed the bottle away from myself, but like I said, I didn’t think I had opened it enough to be an issue.

Unfortunately, I was mistaken. The temperature change caused by the summer heat must have been extreme enough to cause a pressure build up inside the bottle. It had been sitting inside of the bucket for approximately 20 seconds when all of the sudden, Wham! The cork exploded from the bottle and hit me directly in the eye with the cage still covering it, and when I say “directly”, I mean dead on. It didn’t graze my eye socket, it just hit my right eye. I was shocked momentarily and actually finished pouring the champagne to the table, who had barely noticed what occurred because they were so enthralled in their conversation. I went back to the bar, and began to acknowledge my pain. My eye was watering so bad, that I couldn’t see anything. I went to the bathroom and dried my eye until it stopped watering. I thought the pain would pass and my eye would be fine, but after about five minutes, I realized that my vision was becoming blurry and my eye really hurt. I had lost my contact, but I knew that my vision had altered significantly in other ways because of the impact. Things were getting hazy and cloudy. I called my girlfriend’s father, who is an eye doctor and explained to him what had happened. He told me that it was possible that I had disconnected my retina from my eye. Above all, I recall the phrase, “if this has occurred, you have about six hours to have surgery before losing vision in your eye permanently.”

Wow! After trips to two emergency rooms trying to get in quickly, two hours had passed and my vision in my right eye was almost completely gone. A lady asked me at the hospital how many fingers she was holding up, and I told her the only reason I knew that her shape was a person was because she was speaking to me. Fingers? Yeah right! I was finally seen by an optimologist who told me that I had experienced some blunt force trauma to my eye, and it had hemorrhaged. My fuzzy, and now dark vision, was caused by the presence of blood in my eye which was blurring my vision. She put some drops in my eyes, and told me that I was extremely lucky and would not need surgery. What a relief! My vision started getting clearer soon after I left the office, and I had a newfound respect for the rules of opening a bottle of champagne that I had bended earlier that day. I felt like an idiot, but I knew that I hadn’t really done anything that wrong with the bottle. I hadn’t shaken the bottle. It was cold when I brought it out, and the cage was still strongly attached to the bottle. No matter, the slightest combination of temperature change and a slight twist on the cage gave me a trip to the ER and nearly cost me vision in my right eye.

 

Additional Note: I checked the net quickly for some additional info and found this study. They actually state that 17% of champagne corks that hit people’s eyes and require medical attention cause permanent blindness. Man, I was really lucky!

I debated whether or not to post this on the blog because it is kind of embarrassing at makes me look like I don’t know how to open a bottle of champagne (which I have done thousands of times), but I decided to tell the story as a reminder of how powerful a bottle of bubbly can be. Also, how could I not post this story on a Mixology Monday that specifically asks for stories about champagne and other fizzy cocktails.

So, I was shot by a cork and need a champagne cocktail for Mixology Monday. Sounds like guns and champagne to me! The French 75. The French 75 is a cocktail that bar legend says was invented during World War I by soldiers in France who created this champagne cocktail. I have also heard it was invented by American bartenders, originally came with Absinthe, and other stories. I would do some further research, but right now, my eye hurts from looking at the screen with one eye too long, so I am just going to go with my memory of the cocktail. Either way, it was named after the gun, the French 75.

The French 75

2 oz Gin
1 oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Simple Syrup
Champagne

In a shaker, combine the gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup, shake, and strain into an ice filled Collins glass. Top with champagne and garnish with a lemon wheel.

A picture would be nice here right? Sadly, I don’t think drinking and taking pain medication is a good idea, and I don’t want to waste a bottle of champagne that won’t be consumed. Plus, why risk it?

I know this is story that no professional bartender should ever tell because I, of all people, should know better, but it happened because I underestimated a few elements of the process and became part of a freak situation. This, if anything, should be a reminder of why care is needed when opening a bottle of champagne throughout the entire process. Don’t skip any steps and once you begin to open the cage, even just a little bit, you have began something that could potentially be harmful. Most of all, always point the bottle in a safe direction. Treat it like a gun, maybe even a French 75. You are now free to mock me and make pirate jokes. After you’ve finished laughing at me head over to Gabriel’s site, Cocktail Nerd, and check out the other fizzy posts. Be sure not to stray to far from Gabriel’s site and look around it later if you’ve never been there before. It is an awesome site and, despite only being around for a couple of months, is quickly becoming one of the premier cocktail blogs on the net. Ask him to do some more fight nights!