How To Open A Beer Bottle

If you're looking to impress everyone searching for a bottle opener, you need to know how to open a beer bottle using a variety of techniques. There are almost as many ways to open a beer bottle as are there are varieties of beer. That’s good news for those people who can barely find their keys, much less a bottle opener! Most beer bottles are topped with a crown cap, which is corrugated along the bottom edge and has a compressible liner inside the top.  It’s crimped onto the bottle with a capping machine that creates an airtight seal. To open a beer bottle, you simply need to break that seal using small amount of leverage, which you can create with almost anything, and the cap will come off. Below, you’ll find a range of commonly used methods for opening a beer bottle. Some are obvious, some are ridiculous, and some are downright impressive – but all of them are sure to come in handy at some point or another.

To open a beer bottle, you’ll need

• A bottle of beer
• A hard or soft object to create leverage (suggestions include another beer bottle, a car bumper, a key, a belt buckle, a lighter, a piece a paper, or a baseball cap)

1. The easiest way to open a beer bottle is with a wall-mounted or hand-held opener. Always handle the bottle gently to prevent it from gushing over or “exploding” when you open it. When using either kind of opener, hold the bottle firmly around the shoulder, not by the bottom, and use a smooth, quick motion to remove the cap, avoiding damage to the neck.
2. If you don’t have an opener, you can open a beer bottle using another bottle.  Place one bottle on a flat surface. Pick up the other bottle and tilt it almost upside-down, aligning the “teeth” of both caps against each other. Wrap one hand firmly around both caps to create pressure, and jerk firmly on the upside-down bottle. This should cause the stationery bottle’s cap to pop off.
3. If you don’t mind overflow, a metal car bumper can open a beer bottle in a pinch. Hold the bottle in one hand, aligning the teeth of the bottle cap against the sharp edge of the bumper and creating pressure on the cap. Then, use your free hand to hit the bottle a few inches below the cap. The force will remove the cap, but this will agitate the beer enough to make it gush over.
4. You can use a hard object like a spoon, a belt buckle, or a lighter to create enough leverage open a beer bottle. Wrap your fingers around the bottle’s neck, leaving a small gap between the cap and your finger, and place your thumb on top of the cap. Wedge your hard object into the gap between your finger and the cap, creating enough tension to hold it in place with your finger. The object should be centered between your knuckle and your finger joint, sticking straight out from the bottle. Grasp the bottle tightly, and use your other hand to push down on the object with enough force to lift the cap.
5. Although it may be more difficult, you can also use a softer object to open a beer bottle. Both a piece of paper and the bill of a baseball cap should create enough leverage. With each, you’ll need to form a sharp corner. Fold a piece of paper (or a dollar bill) repeatedly until it’s shaped into a tightly-compressed “v,” or fold the bill of a baseball cap together to make a “u.”  Wedge the corner into the bottle cap, and jerk the paper or the bill up as hard as you can, releasing the bottle cap.
6. Although its awkward shape makes a key hard to use for leverage, it can open a beer bottle. Carefully wedge the teeth of your key between the cap and the bottle’s neck, and twist the key under the cap as hard as you can. This should pull the side of the cap away from the bottle, creating a tiny gap. Repeat this process, working around the cap, until you’ve loosen it enough to twist it off with your hands.