Finally replaced with thestay-on tab in 1980, we could again look forward to barefoot walks and not choking on the tab we dropped in the can to avoid being litterbugs.
The 1990’s brought us an incremental change by making the hole a little bit bigger.
An early one of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series had one of his wonderful little riffs on this. He says the process is to look at the (then new) pull tab, think deep thoughts about progress and the future of mankind, then turn the can over and use the opener on the bottom.
I stopped drinking out of cans about two decades ago, so it’s no nevermind to me. Every time one of those foldy-bendy tabs breaks off without popping the seal or only halfway doing so, I am reminded why. I guess the improvement I liked was the two-hole, pop the seal in with your thumb model, which disappeared in favor of the bendy-lever that’s actually more work.
But you can save them for kidney dialysis or, when they’re pink, something or another. And it makes you feel sooooo good.
I had one of those new dual-hole cans (Molson Canadian, for those who are interested) when I was on the golf course the other day. I didn’t find it that easy to open the second hole–it took a little work–but I also didn’t notice a lot of improvement in the flow as I was drinking from the can. Maybe if you’re pouring beer into the glass, it makes a difference, though.
I love this sort of thing. “We don’t have anything to say about our beer, it’s the same old swill, but check out the cool new package!” See also, aluminum bottles, Miller’s vortex bottle, 8 different packages to go around each bottle/can type, ect. I seem to remember from Beer Wars that it’s a way to take space away from competitors by taking it up with their bazillion packaging types. Gotta love it.
The product is the product and across competitors it’s all pretty much the same. So they change the packaging and tout that. Marketing folks have to justify their salaries, I guess.
The idea is to provide a whole for air to go into the can while the beer is coming out of the main opening. If you don’t let air in, eventually the flow out will slow because a vacuum is being created inside the can.
Try taking a bottle, filling it, and turning it upside down. Same idea. The second hole prevents the “glugging” you get with a bottle.
The ads are very coy about it, saying things like “it makes it easier to pour.” The real reason is so morons can shotgun the beer down and get obnoxiously drunk much faster than would otherwise be possible without punching a second hole in the can with your pocket knife. Back in the day of steel cans, one would open the top, then tip the can up and simultaneously punch a second hole in the bottom of the can with a church key. Problem was that it often resulted in spilling some beer, which is alcohol abuse.
None of this is mentioned because an ad that just says “Get drunker faster and be an instant asshole” is gonna get negative press.
Yeah, how about tree-froggin’? Church key a hole in the side near the very bottom, put it to your mouth, then pop the top. Glurg. Closest thing to the hosing you’re talking about I ever heard. I also heard that if you drank it through a straw you could get drunk faster, but I never took the time to try.
And what’s wrong with getting drunk faster? Seems to me a person would party hearty, then pass out before they got obnoxious. Win-win.
Worse than that. You do know the Irish legend that on Judgement Day, you’re suspended upside down in a barrel filled with all the liquor you ever spilled?
Wasn’t that a failed transitional form between the “poke your own damn holes with a churchkey, ya lazy bum” and tear-off/modern tab styles, before they realized they could do without a vent hole?
Actually I think I’m misremembering and they tried the same lever-nubbin technology as the vent hole on the new can to make the main hole on the experimental can, and it didn’t work, so they went with the simpler pull-ring instead.
I can see the aluminum-wineglass appeal of the can that you pull the entire top off of, but IMO the vent-hole problem was adequately solved by the modern widemouth can.
That must be a regional term. Where are you from? I’ve only ever heard it referred to as “shotgunning” in Texas and on the internet. Also you stab it with a pencil or whatever, no need for a can opener. Though I like the juxtaposition of being all fancy and using a churchkey, and then calling it “tree-froggin”.
I was expecting a thread on Sam Adams now being (limited as I understand) distributed in cans instead of exclusively bottled. New can technology, coating to keep the aluminum out of contact with the beer (as if the stuff wasn’t brewed in metal vats), marketing blah blah.
Obligatory link: I can’t get beer into me! Whatever David, the blue mountains are cool, you blue yourself :). It helps in ice chests, where everything is cold (on the surface).
Ever pour gas from a can? Or buy a big thing of liquid laundry detergent? They have a second hole to vent.
Coors has had their own variation on vents for some time. The site linked claims it’s a gimmick. Coors also makes those “canteen” bottles that Leaffan mentions. I rather like them. But no, they’re not worth $9.50, but that’s what happens when you go to a concert. I did the math and they’re usually the same price as 12 oz./355 mL cans (e.g. 9x 16 ouncers vs. 12x 12 ounce).
