Our friends Steve Shapiro and Gail Williams from Beer by BART are visiting, in part to go to the Cotati Accordion Festival to see Polkacide, and others. Last night we were opening beers and I pulled a 2007 bottle of Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus out of the cellar.

After opening the bottle, removing the crown, we were searching for a corkscrew (we’re still settling into our new home). I looked back at the cork and noticed it had risen up from the bottle a few centimeters on its own. It almost appeared like an unseen ghost was opening the bottle. We all stopped and watched the cork as it very, very slowly kept rising. It took long enough that Steve pulled out his phone and started video-taping it just before it popped. It took a long time, at least two or three minutes. It started moving very slowly and then picked up speed toward the dramatic conclusion. Eventually, the cork reached the end and rocketed out of the bottle, exploding up and out, hitting the ceiling. It even left a baptismal mark on the ceiling in our kitchen. I fully expected it to start gushing, but it didn’t at all. And most importantly, it tasted fantastic. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a bottle open itself.