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German-Designed Bottle Opener That Doubles as a Bottle Closer

By Rain Noe - May 25, 2012

in Object Culture

My beer-drinking friends will undoubtedly call me a sissy for this, but here goes:

On a sunny Scottish afternoon, at a pub in Edinburgh I discovered the best beer I'd ever tasted: a local brew called Innis & Gunn that's matured in whisky barrels. Their Highland Cask 18 is beer with a smooth Scotch flavor and I was in heaven.

Back in New York, after much searching I found a booze distributor (this one, for you locals) that carries Innis & Gunn and I eagerly toted the large bottles home. Not an evening beer drinker, once in a while I liked to crack one with lunch—but I had to stop.

Here's the problem: The bottles only come in the larger 24 oz. size and it's 6.6% alcohol, and for my small frame to completely drain one at 1pm doesn't jive with competently finishing my workload for the day. But the stuff is rare, and once I pop the cap, I'd be a fool to drink half and throw the other half away.

That's where this thing comes in:

That's the Hermetus Bottle Opener & Resealer, a German-made bottle opener that you can also use to stick atop an opened bottle to completely re-seal it.

The resealing function is what sets this gadget apart and can also be used for a wide range of pop-cap bottles. One simply flips over the implement and, using the metal guides to grip the rim at the top of the bottle, slides the rubbery panel over the opening to ensure a tight seal over the beverage.

Once the resealer is slid into place, the seal is tight enough that none of the liquid will spill even if tipped completely upside down.

Once I get my hands on one of these, I'm off to the beer distributor on Chrystie. Maybe I shouldn't have linked to it—they only carry so much Innis & Gunn, so don't be a jerk and clean them out.

o

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Anne Morrow Adams

12 years ago

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Check out http://store.kaufmann-mercantile.com/collections/kitchen-home. They carry the Hermetus opener/resealer.
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Jpb

12 years ago

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This accomplishes it in a slightly different way... Opens the cap with no crease, letting you put the cap back on.

http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-195372/Rosle-Bottle-Opener
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Rafael Morgan

12 years ago

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Or maybe you could just use an old cork to seal it... ;)
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toddrickx

12 years ago

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I prefer using the Vacu-Vin wine saver http://www.vacuvin.com/270/Vacuum_Wine_Saver.html when not drinking an entire bottle of beer or sparkling water as it removes most of the oxygen which causes the spoilage.
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Joe

12 years ago

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Thank you for posting about a couple cool products that are new to me. I don't care if they are 20 years old or 100 years old. Why do people always feel the need to point out how un-new something is? Maybe sometimes it is purely for the sake of information. That's cool. Other times it seems more self-serving or judgmental of the original poster. That's not cool.
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Craig Whittet

12 years ago

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You should also look out for beers from the Williams Brothers, one of my colleagues at the Glasgow School of Art designs their rather splendid labels.

williamsbrosbrew.com
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Bruce

12 years ago

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Additional preferred features would be a hole for a keyring or lanyard and to be magnetic. I would definitely pull out my wallet then!
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Mrpink

12 years ago

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They have been around for 20 years in many variations. It like saying hey i found something that keeps you dry when it rains... they call it umbrella. ;)
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Muptup

12 years ago

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"On a sunny Scottish afternoon"

After that everything else seemed implausible.

However, freakishly as it's a sunny day today, care to tell us which Edinburgh pub as I haven't tried one of these.
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drak

12 years ago

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bottle closer isn't something new.
I have opener+closer that's more than 20 years old
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