Gadget Review: The Beer Stick Bottle Opener

I’m always on the look­out for new, cool bot­tle open­ers and after run­ning across an adver­tise­ment for The Beer Stick I knew I had to get my hands on one. 

The Beer Stick Bot­tle Opener

From what I saw on the web­site I could tell that the look of it was strik­ing and classy and would make a great addi­tion to my home bar.  I placed an order and in no time at all had one of my own!

The Beer Stick just plain works…and works great!  The unique design of the cus­tom metal bracket puts even pres­sure on the cap which means that it doesn’t crease or bend them when open­ing.  This is a great fea­ture for peo­ple who, like me, collect their caps. 

The cap after open­ing with no crease!

The Beer Stick Logo

The stick is made out of good qual­ity hard­wood with very smooth edges and sports a highly detailed branded logo and leather strap.  I was amazed at how intri­cate and high qual­ity the logo was and tried to show that in the pic­ture.  The strap is a great addi­tion to the Stick too as it can be hung on a door­knob for quick access in a beer emergency.

I had a chance to ask the owner, Ben, a few ques­tions about his prod­uct.  He kindly responded as follows:

DOUG:  Tell us your story and a lit­tle about your com­pany history.

BEN:  The Beer­stick was cre­ated in response to a num­ber of untimely bot­tle open­ing fail­ures – cheap plas­tic ones break­ing, unin­spired run of the mill, big box open­ers and the gen­eral dis­like of the old church key my Dad had in the garage. As a pas­sion­ate home brewer and fan of non tra­di­tional beer, I wanted to cre­ate a bot­tle opener that reflected the pas­sion and cre­ativ­ity that brew mas­ters draw upon when con­coct­ing a new recipe.  I felt this was an untapped area of oppor­tu­nity and with the right prod­uct I could cre­ate a bot­tle opener that was also a con­ver­sa­tion piece, it would draw peo­ple to the beer fridge out of pure curios­ity, then get them hooked on some­thing as sim­ple as a bot­tle opener.

DOUG:  How did you design the metal bit?

BEN:  This was a fun part of the design process. I had no expe­ri­ence with metal, CAD design, etc.  I know what I wanted and I started out with a mason nail and aver­age house­hold plumb­ing torch. Through a lit­tle trial and error, lots of prod­uct test­ing I landed on the cur­rent design.

DOUG:  Were there mul­ti­ple rounds of test sticks before decid­ing on the cur­rent design?

BEN:  Yes – quite a few.  We played around with every dimen­sion and shape of wood, wood species and ulti­mately landed on our cur­rent size based on the per­for­mance, rel­a­tive size (enough girth to stand out and grab atten­tion) and the fact that it will pass through TSA in a carry on, which was key for gifts and trade show give­aways.  An unin­tended ben­e­fit to the wood we selected (Alder) is sus­tain­abil­ity – we pur­chase our wood from a man­u­fac­turer that uti­lizes sus­tain­able hard wood forests right here in the USA.

DOUG:  What is Beer Stick plan­ning for the future?

BEN:  We focus­ing growth in a num­ber of dif­fer­ent areas. Retail lines, cus­tom work, licens­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and of course always look­ing to align with brew­eries and brew­pubs. As well as expand­ing the line of Beer­stick prod­ucts avail­able.  I don’t want to reveal too much, but I think we have a solid plan for growth in 2012.

DOUG:  How can the beer lov­ing pub­lic be a part of the Beer Stick lifestyle?

BEN:  That is a sim­ple one – keep qual­ity and cre­ativ­ity as a stan­dard and not an excep­tion.  Cast away the cheap bot­tle open­ing trin­kets and find a bot­tle opener with as much per­son­al­ity as the beer they are drinking.

The Beer Stick crew is based in Den­ver, Col­orado and is quickly mak­ing a name for them­selves in the craft beer indus­try.  Their online media offers oppor­tu­ni­ties for Beer Stick own­ers to sub­mit pho­tos of the Beer Stick in action and some of them are quite cre­ative and hilar­i­ous.  Look for the crew at local events and stop by for a chat or head to their web­site at, www.thebeerstick.com,  to pick up a great gift for the beer lover in your life…and tell ‘em The Brew Bros sent ya!

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• 

Doug

Doug joined the Brew Bros team in Sep­tem­ber of 2011. He has been an avid home brewer since 2005 and has earned numer­ous awards for his beers. He has taken brew­ery course work at the Siebel Insti­tute of Tech­nol­ogy and is work­ing toward open­ing his own brew­ery. His favorite style of beer is Amer­i­can India Pale Ale and some of his favorite beers cur­rently include Founders All Day IPA, New Glarus Moon Man, Fire­stone Walker Union Jack and Sierra Nevada Cel­e­bra­tion Ale.

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