I'd like to tell you a little about one of my favourite, but often looked over, kitchen items - the champagne bucket. The champagne bucket has been around for a long time, and has been used for just one purpose for thousands of years - to keep your champagne contained and cool.

Champagne has a long and involved history. The ancient Romans began cultivating vineyards many years ago, and from these vineyards they made all sorts of wines. Through experimentation and hard work they perfected their craft, making many different flavours available to the royalty of the time. Champagne was thought to have been discovered by accident, but the main person who is credited with the creation of this wonderful beverage is a French Monk from the 1600's called Dom Perignon. Good old Dom spent a lot of time and effort perfecting the perfect champagne, which was a huge hit with royalty. It became the thing to drink if you wanted to prove your status.

Initially, champagne was called "The Devil's Wine", because sometimes the bottles would spontaneously explode as if possessed by the devil. As a result, the handling of these bottles became a very intricate affair, and thus the Champagne Bucket was born. Nowadays, there are literally hundreds of different types of champagne buckets on the markets, and it can sometimes be difficult to make a decision on which would be the best type to buy.

Stainless Steel Champagne Bucket

The most common and popular material for a champagne bucket to be made of is stainless steel, and with good reason. Stainless steel is great for holding the coolness in, which is the main purpose for a champagne bucket. There is nothing quite like seeing a stainless steel champagne bucket in a warm room with beads of condensation running down the sides of it and a nice cool bottle of champagne sitting inside.

Glass Champagne Bucket

Another common type of bucket is glass champagne bucket. Glass is a very elegant material, and will certainly make a statement if your are holding a formal function such as a wedding. In fact, weddings are probably the most common place that you will find glass champagne buckets. They give an air of purity and sophistication that you just can't get from their stainless steel cousins.

Plastic Champagne Bucket

As well as the more romantic stainless steel and glass buckets, there are also plastic ones available. I know what you're thinking, and I tend to agree with you. Using a material as common as plastic for something as mystical and romantic as a bottle of champagne seems like sacrilege. There are, however, times when something like a plastic champagne bottle can be quite useful. Say for example you have a family reunion on and you have decided you would celebrate it with a picnic in the park. You definitely want to be drinking a little champagne during that occasion (you know what these family do's are like), but you don't want to be whipping out your expensive and treasured champagne bucket in front of all the relatives. A plastic champagne bucket is perfect for this occasion, as it will do the job of keeping your champagne cold, as well as blending in with the rest of the picnic items.

There are many different types of handle arrangements that you can get with a champagne bucket. You can get a single handle that lays on one side, similar to a milk pail, and you can get ones that are little knobs on either side of the bucket. The ones with the knobs are a little harder to carry, and there is more risk of an accident if you've already drunk a little bit of the champagne inside.

Ideally a champagne bucket should be at a steady temperature of around 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the optimal temperature for serving champagne. You can get special thermometers that will keep track of the current temperature of your champagne bucket. In fact, you can even get buckets that have a thermometer built into them now.

There are quite a few different sizes that these buckets can come in. You can get large party champagne buckets that can hold up to 8 or 9 bottles for those times when you are hosting a large party, and you can get the small ones that only hold one bottle for those romantic intimate times when it's just you and the one you love. Whatever the occasion, there is sure to be a champagne bucket out there that suits your needs perfectly.