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Product: Drink Accessory: Marker
Beer Blisters   (+6, -2)  [vote for, against]
Easy way to identify your beer

How many times is it that you are at a party with friends and forget which beer is yours? Well, regardless of the smarta$$ comments that are sure to follow, it happens alot.

My idea comes from the fast food industry. Ever notice the little bubbles, domes or blisters on the drink lids of your favorite burger joint? The server usually punches down one of these to indicate the type of beverage in the cup, e.g. Tea, Diet, Dr Pepper, etc.

I say let's have the beer makers start putting these on the tops of beer cans. If they could put six of these blisters on a can, numbered 1 through 6, that would give 64 unique combinations. Now, all you would have to do is press down your own personal combination of blisters whenever you open a new beer. No more confusion!!

It would be easy enough to establish "codes" for the people in your usual drinking group. Although, there may be some territory disputes when a newbie is in your group.

Cost: $0.00!! Can manufacturers would only need to modify the dies used to stamp out the beer can tops. Since it is probable that the exisiting dies eventually wear out anyway, just wait until the next replacement is scheduled.

Now, all we need is those refrigerator-friendly 12 packs that Coke uses!!
-- JohnnyOnTheSpot, Oct 05 2002

Deter Beer Thieves http://www.halfbake...mbo_20Lock_20Cooler
[Mr Burns, Oct 05 2002]

Permanent marker?
-- phoenix, Oct 05 2002


How often do you carry around a permanent marker?
-- JohnnyOnTheSpot, Oct 05 2002


<rummages in bag> yep, which colo(u)r?
-- po, Oct 05 2002


Well, if other people stealing my drinks were a problem I'd do it all the time.
-- phoenix, Oct 05 2002


Easy is good!
-- reensure, Oct 05 2002


Beer theft isn't really the problem. If it were, I recommend writing your name on the BOTTOM of every can in your cooler. That way, you can easily identify the pouchers!

I'm more concerned with picking up someone's beer can/ashtray, mistaking it for my own! Yuck!
-- JohnnyOnTheSpot, Oct 05 2002


thought we were putting our name on the top of the can - mind you in my neck of the woods , we use glasses.
-- po, Oct 05 2002


//Cost: $0.00!! Can manufacturers would only need to modify the dies used to stamp out the beer can tops//Likelihood of price hike to consumers: inevitable
-- thumbwax, Oct 05 2002


Or how about, you just >wait for it< KEEP YOUR DRINK IN YOUR HAND! That's so crazy it just might work.
-- [ sctld ], Oct 05 2002


"Cost: $0.00!!"

Ever priced a die design? Costly.
-- bristolz, Oct 05 2002


You ain't kiddin' - insane fees, even for "modification" of dies for corrugate (cardboard)
-- thumbwax, Oct 05 2002


Hmm.. take the X dollars involved in adding a few dimples to the current die design and divide that by the number of dies that could be produced from such design, then divide that by the number of beer can tops that can be stamped from such a die, and what do you get? $0.00!!
-- JohnnyOnTheSpot, Oct 06 2002


Dividing something repetitively doesn't make a cost disappear.
-- bristolz, Oct 06 2002


In my experience beer cans tend to be made of metal. So pushing down these blisters will be a little more strenuous than the equivalent action on soft drink cups. Also, anybody could take your beer and push down _all_ the blisters, claiming that was their idenitity code.
-- calum, Oct 06 2002


Don't drink beer. Orange soda!
-- BinaryCookies, Oct 06 2002


I think JOTS has gotten a rough ride for a perfectly good idea. The cost may not be 0, but it's negligible, specially in this market. Interactive feature like this will give kids something to look busy / talk about while they're building the Dutch courage to ask Megan out.
-- General Washington, Oct 06 2002


Whilst frequenting particularly popular nightspots, I've always found that putting a napkin (paper or cloth) over my open drink saved it from being discarded by the bartender, marked my place at the bar, and prevented unthinking neanderthals from using my glass or container as an ash receptacle. Whether it was a Burger Barn, favorite local nightspot, or Michelin-rated Restaurant, I have yet to be charged for the napkin.
-- jurist, Oct 06 2002


JohnnyOnTheSpot, have you ever in your life sat down with a person who is going to tell you how much that/those die(s) is/are going to cost, whether the die(s) is/are used or not? It ain't cheap, and you'll wish you had a beer when you got the news. The idea its elf is good, but it is naive to believe it's "free."
-- thumbwax, Oct 06 2002


I have to agree with [ sctld ] - there's a first, I feel faint. I am going to go and have a lie down. (its the spiked drink problem)
-- po, Oct 06 2002


Drink the beer. Nobody can pinch it then (without a stomach pump anyway)
-- dare99, Oct 06 2002


//pushing down these blisters will be ... strenuous//

I may have a solution. "The Blister Popper", a metal lever for your keychain, that you use for the indentation.

//anybody could ... push down _all_ the blisters//

You'd of course need a "parity blister". The problem is, the number of drinks you imbibe is inversely proportional to the accuracy of blister popping and parity checking. But you also become increasingly less inclined to care.
-- Amos Kito, Oct 07 2002


why not just put chilli sauce in your beer, its sure to taste disgusting but you will get used to it and nobody else will touch your beer. Thanks sandman.
-- Gulherme, Oct 07 2002


<old joke> Left a note next to my beer saying "I have spat in this drink". Came back and someone had written "So have I".Ba-dum tsst.<old joke>
-- egbert, Oct 07 2002


// Dividing something repetitively doesn't make a cost disappear //

It doesn't ? Can you call round and explain that to our sales manager ? Please ?

"Division by zero error. Inadequate User. Please install upgraded User and/or World View and reboot"
-- 8th of 7, Oct 07 2002


You know those cute charms people have for their wine glasses? Those solve the same problem. Why not sell a set of "Beer Can Charms" with more appeal to the typical beer consumer. Sports team logos, little weapons, etc. These would work with beer in bottles, cans, or glasses.

Maybe this should be its own idea? Nah.
-- hinkle, Oct 07 2002


... a small pliable little plug of sorts that fits into the "pop top" lid or bottle and shaped like a little toilet seat cover---pretty similar to the pop top shape anyway. Oh. of course they could come in different colors to ease recognition.
-- hollajam, Oct 07 2002


used to have a really useful Swedish thing to hold drinks; leather strap around your neck, formed into a sort of sling, which holds your can/glass. Great during the party, only thing is that now I forget which cupboard I stored it in...
-- lewisgirl, Oct 07 2002


[lewisgirl], was that a Beer Bjorn?
-- hinkle, Oct 07 2002


I like to dent the edge of the can right below the mouth (where it angles up from the side to the top) to 'label' my can. I suppose if there are but 4 people drinking, you could each have a cardinal position on the can for yourself...however, I foresee drunken confusion: Was I right or left?!...ahhh, who cares!
-- jfromm, Oct 07 2002


Fact: In 2001, according to the Can Manufacturers Institute, about 217 billon metal beverage cans were produced World-wide, almost half of which are consumed in North America. Crown Cork & Seal Company lays claim to roughly 20% of this market. According to their 2001 financial report, roughly 33% of their $7.2 billion in total net sales, came from beverage cans sales. Doing the math, that means that Crown Cork must have supplied about 43 billion cans for about $2.4 billion in 2001. That's around 5.6 cents per can.

Other majors suppliers are Ball Corporation, Metal Container Corp (MCC), and Rexam. North America receives about half of the World's annual beverage can shipments, 106 billion in 2001.

Fact: Most beverage cans are 2-peice cans made from aluminum. To form the can (body), a cup is punched from a roll of metal, then drawn and ironed to stretch the sides up to form to a cylinder (with one end closed). The top of the can, call the "can end", is punched out in a separate process, then scored and fitted with the pull-tab. At the canneries, the cans are first filled with the product, then the can ends are fastened using a method where the metal is folded together to form a seal.
-- JohnnyOnTheSpot, Oct 07 2002


What I really hate is when I drank far too much beer the night before and I wake to find one of those huge, red, oozing, pus filled beer blisters on my lip. And they hurt.
-- blissmiss, Oct 07 2002


jfromm, that's a good little trick that I've used myself. Another popular thing to do, at least around here, is to turn or twist the pull-tab so that it points in a certain direction. Using a clock face as reference and 12 o'clock being the normal pull-tab orientation, you could get 4-6 easily discriminating "times", though settings from 5 to 7 o'clock seem to interfere with consumption. But with such few positions, it not as easy to adopt one of your own without running into frequent collisions.
-- JohnnyOnTheSpot, Oct 07 2002


Perhaps the most efficient solution would be a return to those little baby bottles or half sized cans of beer.

"Single Use Guzzles"

Hmm. The college days...
-- hollajam, Oct 08 2002


Those of you who guzzle beer like fish drinking water don't have this problem, but some of us like to SIP our beer, and by the time we get to the bottom of the can it's warm! I saw some neet ideas in here, but none sound really practicel, (except MAYBE turning the pull tab. So to solve both problems, (identifying your drink AND keeping beer (or other canned beverage) cold, the SIMPLE soloution is to get one of those insulated can holders made of foam rubber and write your name on it! The rule here is KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid! :-}
-- Ivyonthewall, Oct 08 2002


One could have hollajam's pop top lid with an added lock, opened by key or combination.
-- FarmerJohn, Oct 08 2002


Perhaps wearing gloves would solve the problem of too-cold beer and blisters due to frequent/agitated handling.
-- thumbwax, Oct 08 2002


//opened by key or combination// or perhaps by lip recognition technology?
-- half, Oct 08 2002


If you're drink enough to get your own drink combination, I'd think you'd be too drunk to care what bubbles are pressed down on your can.
-- Rain, Dec 14 2003



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