Comments on: Germans have MacGyver-like abilities in opening beer bottles.

By: Texan Exile

Texan Exile — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:26:54 +0000

Drive-through ATMs are great. But as a non-motorized German living in the States, two things always cracked me up about them:

1. Most of the time, they ONLY had drive-through, so as a pedestrian I would have to stand in between all the pick ups and wait my turn. Some strange looks I got there.

2. Drive-through ATMs WITH BRAILLE LETTERS ON THE KEYPADS???? You just gotta be kidding me. If blind people are using the drive-through ATMs, clearly their biggest problem will NOT be how to figure out where the 5 or 9 is.

:))

By: Schwobaseggl

Schwobaseggl — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:52:46 +0000

Those Plöpps go back to the early Pickelhauben drinking days - another lost war, but the plöpp goes on!

BTW: German canned bear is made for export purposes.
No German who loves bear drinks that kinda stuff - unless he visits the States, o`course! ;o)

By: Knallcharge

Knallcharge — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:39:27 +0000

I’m German and since I was a child I can open my beer with nearly everything. It just works with a piece of Paper!

OK, MacGyver can build a Gun with a Bubblegum and his Knife… I can’t…

By: M.

M. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:12:21 +0000

My personal favourite technique:

One ring to open them all

http://www.geekwear.de/produktbilder/medium/Flaschenoeffner-Ring.jpg

By: Tanja

Tanja — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:42:39 +0000

Canned beer isn’t too popular among the more cultivated people here. It’s highly popular among Punks though (as Punks are known for drinking ANYTHING, even export)

You tip the top of the can with your finger a couple of times and then you open it, holding it as far away from your body as you can, not knowing if the a**hole who gave it to you didn’t shake it before

By: Nina Grenningloh

Nina Grenningloh — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:25:32 +0000

What a great post and wonderful observation! I’m a German living in Los Angeles and I miss the inconvenient German beer bottles… When I was a teenager in Germany at the age of 16, (and that’s the age we’re legally allowed to not only open beer bottles but drink the refreshing brew) I was impressed by guys in my high school who would open beer bottles with a lighter, let alone their teeth!

It’s really not about inconvenience but about the EXPERIENCE. Germans love their beer culture and can’t get enough of “engineering” new ways of how to open beer bottles. Ahhhh…I love hearing the pop when the cap opens!

I can’t wait to read more of your German MacGyver-like experiences.

By: Tim Cole

Tim Cole — Sun, 31 May 2009 16:02:29 +0000

When I was a kid in heidelberg some construction workers impressed me no end by opening a Schnapp- or Bügelverschluss with an extended index finger. I tried it for days, whacking away at the ceramic top until my fingers bled. Finally one of them showed me the trick: Make sure the viewer is fully focussed on your outstretched index finger, then hit the rounded wire on the neck of the bottle with the knuckle of your middle finger. It hurts a little (unless your a construction worker with thickly callused hands) but yeah, the bottle does pop open, and it looks like you did it with your index finger. Magic!

By: Stefan W.

Stefan W. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:16:51 +0000

PS concerning draught beer:

I think Guinness Draught in cans works pretty well. It’s definately closer to what I got at a pub in Dublin compared to the bottled variant. But that’s rather because of the nitrogen, not the can. Works with bottles as well, but those aren’t available here.

By: Stefan W.

Stefan W. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:52:45 +0000

>> Most of our canned beer is 12 ounce size. You can buy “big boys” which are 24 ounce size, but people tend to think you are “low class” or an alcholic if you buy them…

That low class thinking thing exists in Germany, too. It’s just that the 0.33l bottles take the place of your small cans. It does that, as I mentioned, even concerning sixpacks. However, those sixpack bottles are reusable, returnable glass bottles.

The idea of deposit on non-reusable beverage containers (including cans, glass and PET bottles) was to promote reusable containers and perhaps also to lower the amount of cans thrown away in cities and parks.

But deposit on non-reusables is 0.25 €, while that on reusable bottles is 0.05 € for standard beer bottles and 0.15 € for most soft drinks. This has helped to reduce the amount of cans sold… but has lead to some drink / size combinations disappearing completely.

There are no 0.33l beer cans, you can hardly find any soft drink in cans apart from the standard Coca-Cola Company products and Lipton sparkling ‘Ice Tea’.

Pepsi is availabe in some shops in 0.5l and 1l PET-bottles, but most shops only sell 1.25l or 1.5l bottles. What if I just want to drink a ’small’ Pepsi? 1.5l bottles for me mean that half of it will be without carbonation before I can empty them… *grmbl*

It’s worse with 7up. I haven’t seen 7up anything smaller than 1l for years. And I always preferred it to Sprite…

By: Also John

Also John — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:56:36 +0000

Where I live in America there is no deposit for cans. However, we can sell them to a metal reycling plant, which pays per pound of aluminum. So, the condition of the cans and number of cans is not an issue. People who recycle cans crush them flat to store a greater volume. Because the return per pound is very low and the recyling plant is not close by, we have to save many cans to make the trip cost-effective. Many charitable organizations also collect cans to raise money and it is easier to donate the cans to them. Also, many communities have a recycling service that will pick up all of your recycle-able trash, just like the trash service, but they do not pay you for it.

Most of our canned beer is 12 ounce size. You can buy “big boys” which are 24 ounce size, but people tend to think you are “low class” or an alcholic if you buy them…Australian Foster’s Lager is the only beer I know of that is available in 0.5l size.

Beer in cans costs significantly less than bottled beer, so it is more popular than bottles. Drinking “longnecks” is a sign of wealth. There have been many attempts to make the canned beer taste like “draught” beer, but Bird of Prey is correct, there is nothing in a can that tastes like “direkt vom Fass”.