GrOpen Your Beer

Ah, the perils of the backyard barbecue. You’ve got your plate full of food in one hand, and that tasty, cold bottle of beer in the other. But it’s unopened. And you need both hands to pop the cap and unleash the delicious nectar within. GrOpener to the rescue!

Proudly designed and manufactured in Colorado, GrOpener (grab + opener) is a new tool that allows you to open any capped bottle single-handedly in a simple motion. To use it, just slip your index finger through the ring and rest your middle finger on the tail or “trigger.” A strong magnet near the business end of the GrOpener helps position the hook beneath the cap, allowing you to cleave the cap off with a simple grabbing motion toward the neck of the bottle—an action that preserves the integrity of the cap for collectors. Thanks to the magnet, you can store the GrOpener on the refrigerator or any other steel surface. And the tail end is also useful in opening cans.

Creator Mark Manger says he was inspired to design the GrOpener when he was teaching school in Northern Ghana as a Peace Corps volunteer. “The bottle openers that were everywhere made an impression; they were handmade from straight blocks of wood with two screws partially installed near one end,” Manger says. The screws hooked under the cap and pulled it off by leveraging the handle. With practice, he learned to use those openers to remove a cap with one hand.

Manger’s version is a lot easier on the eyes, multifunctional and more durable. Built from tempered aluminum, and available in five decorative anodized colors and two scratch-resistant industrial finishes, the GrOpener is $16–$20 online at gropener.com. ■