Introduction // The Beerwhat?

A while back, a gentleman named Ron emailed me offering some schwag in exchange for a review, and I can report that I happily accepted! Ron is the purveyor of the BeerClip [ http://BeerClip.com/ ] a tool that, when I received it, tried it out in a couple of environments-first at a party with a house full of friends, second by myself in my desk drawer, and finally at a large convention with thousands of people. In each case I was using it mostly for different functions, but all in all the BeerClip is not only a solid product, but actually exceeded my expectations for being useful and pretty damned helpful in the process. What is the BeerClip? Well, imagine a strong metal money clip…with a notch in the rounded edge for opening your bottles. Check out the other side:

I received three BeerClips, each one emblazoned with a custom logo; one for Labatt Blue (similar to the one above) for example, one for Sam Adams, and another with the American Century logo on it. The site shows that your BeerClips can be customized with the logo of your company, your fraternity or sorority logo, or any of the stock logos that you can get your BeerClip adorned with. You can have it engraved and completely customized to your organization or your own liking. BeerClips are $14.95 USD each, engraved with three free letters and one of the stock symbols of your choice; more engraving options are freely available on request.

The First Test // Party!

Shortly after I received my three sample BeerClips, my girlfriend and I threw a small party for some friends at our house; it was her birthday and our friends don’t mind the occasional drink, so there were, of course, bottles that had to be opened-many bottles. That’s where the BeerClip came into play! Forsaking our regular bottle opener, we put out several BeerClips for use by our guests, and all of them remarked on how interesting it was to have a money clip plus bottle opener all in one. Only one of my guests tried using it the wrong way-that is, pushing the cap off from the side of the bottle close to you instead of pulling the cap off from the opposite side, as illustrated below:

Using it the wrong way is a little rough on your fingers, but using it the right way is no problem at all, and takes only a moment to figure out if you did it the wrong way. No worries though, it’s still pretty solid. All three BeerClips survived our party intact, unbent, and in good condition. The BeerClip is made of polished brushed stainless steel, making them attractive to the eye and the touch, and they can take some serious punishment. More on that later.

The Second Test // Chillaxin’!

The second serious test of the BeerClip came in general use. I stashed one in my desk drawer, where I find myself often enjoying a beer after work in front of the computer (I’m a geek, you all knew this) or on the weekends. Nothing spectacular here; but I found the BeerClip similarly easy and messless to use in causal situations-I’d pass it back and forth to my girlfriend who sits next to me in our home office, both of us using it here and there to open a beer, and then stash the BeerClip in the desk until the next bottle was to be opened. By this point we had established pretty strongly that the BeerClip was an exceptional bottle opener…but how about a money clip?

The Third Test // On The Go!

The last test of ours was last weekend at a massive convention that we love to attend every year. We booked out hotel room and stashed a few bucks and some ID inside a pair of BeerClips, since we didn’t want to take all of our cards and ID to the convention itself, in case we lost them. No wallets allowed, only BeerClips. We were skeptical at first since neither of us normally cared for money clips, but the BeerClip was an amazing introduction to using one.

The steel clip is strong-very strong, and your money isn’t likely to slip out of it. At first, you might be deluded into thinking it might be easy to bend because it’s got the bottle-opening notch in the back, but that’s not the case at all. The BeerClip held our money and ID safe in our hands, and it was easy enough to retrieve dollars and ID from the clip that it wasn’t a hassle to use. And of course, back in the hotel room where bottles were opened during the evenings when we weren’t at the convention, the BeerClip saved the day again. We walked on the BeerClip, opened a dozen bottles with it during our tests (probably more) drove it around, tried to bend and break it, and each time the BeerClip stood up to our punishment.

Final Thoughts // Good Stuff!

If you’re in the market for a money clip that’s attractive, strong, solid, and serves multiple purposes, the BeerClip is definitely an option you should take a look at. The polished brushed steel has a silvery look that isn’t gaudy like gold money clips tend to be, and is strong enough to both open all of the bottles you’ll need and hold your cash and cards safe and secure in your pocket, all for a reasonable price and your choice of logo and custom 3-letter engraving. If you’re looking for hand-out gifts or favors for your next party or your company gathering, the makers of the BeerClip take large orders and offer custom engraving of your company logo and name.

Our test drive of the BeerClip is anything but through-Ron was kind enough to let us keep the BeerClips we have now, so we’ll continue using them. In fact, as soon as we got back from the convention, I put one of them back in my desk. Finally I can actually say I’ll never be without a decent bottle opener again, unless someone’s envious enough to steal one. All in all though, the BeerClip is an excellent product for a variety of markets. I look forward to seeing more on store shelves soon, but if you’re interested right now, head on over and pick one up.

[ BeerClip :: Bottle Opener Money Clip – BeerClip! ]

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