howie on 19/10/2006 at 20:32
Question... The British beers and other European beers (such as Heineken) we get here in the bottles all have caps that you can't remove without your pocketknife. Here in the States and Canada our beer comes with a twist off cap. Why do you make it so hard to get to the beer Mr. English People?
SD on 19/10/2006 at 20:48
If we had screw-top lids here, our burgeoning bottle-opener industry would go to the wall.
Do you not have bottle-openers over there, or did the steel tariffs make them uneconomical?
Rug Burn Junky on 19/10/2006 at 21:11
Because the American bottling/recycling industry is tremendously wasteful and never reuses bottles, instead scrapping the glass and making new bottles for every batch.
Pop-tops can be reused more effectively because they continue to hold a seal much better than screw tops on repeated uses.
Aja on 19/10/2006 at 21:18
Most Canadian bottles are pop-off, at least where I live. Our bottles are recycled, too.
They're easy enough to open with a pocketknife or a lighter or even your teeth if you're crazy. But why would you need a pocketknife to open twist-off lids?
Printer's Devil on 19/10/2006 at 21:34
Quote Posted by Rug Burn Junky
Because the American bottling/recycling industry is tremendously wasteful and never reuses bottles, instead scrapping the glass and making new bottles for every batch.
A recycling industry that dosen't recycle? You wacky Americans! I never understood the rush to 'twist off' bottlecaps; most Canadian boys used to have a matching set of bottle openers (belt buckle and keychain versions) by age 14. In the (very) unlikely event that an opener was not available, a nearby table edge would work well enough.
Rug Burn Junky on 19/10/2006 at 21:40
They recycle the glass, not the bottles.
Ulukai on 19/10/2006 at 22:01
On a purely whimsical level, there's something really satisfying about popping open a bottle-topped bottle that the twist off variety just can't match, but I very much doubt that's the reason we have them.
Starrfall on 19/10/2006 at 23:05
Oh I don't know, I think thats one of the subconscious reasons screw top wines have been kind of slow to catch on.
Anyways plenty of american beers use pop tops and screw tops are dangerously deceptive anyways. "Oh it's a screw top this will be easy argh ow oh god who thought spikey edges were a good thing to put on a cap you have to exert pressure on to open"
The Alchemist on 19/10/2006 at 23:11
Wrap your finger around it, not the palm of your hand, that way the spikey parts dont slip. It also just fits better into the groves of your finger, anywho.
Starrfall on 19/10/2006 at 23:25
Not if your hands are the size of a pea. :(
