The End for Bottle Tops and Corks

Beer bottle tops (caps) and wine corks have been used to keep their respective fluids in their respective vessels for longer than most people can remember. Any seasoned drinker will tell you just how many times they have woken up the find hundreds of the things scattered about the place after a big night. However, with the insurgence of the screw top wine and beer bottle, the old designs are being pushed out, and are soon to be an extinct.

Bottle caps are traditionally made from steel and the original design had 24 teeth that wrapped around the rim, although more modern caps have around 21 teeth. Whilst they were great at keeping the contents of a bottle fresh, they are a nightmare to get off and unless you have teeth made from granite, you have to use a bottle opener to stand any chance of quenching your thirst. Most inventions come about from the desire to make things quicker and easier, and this is why tops like the screw top have been embraced in the way they have.

It’s a similar story with wine bottles, although ease of entry is not the only reason wine makers are moving away from corks. A corkscrew used to be a staple part of any dinnerware set, but its usefulness is dwindling as screw top wine bottles become more popular. In the same way as beer bottles need a bottle opener, wine bottles always required a corkscrew to be close by, and that’s just not always practical. Additionally, when it comes to storing wine for any length of time, screw tops are far superior to corks. Cork expands and contracts with varying moisture levels and with this can let air into the bottle, ruining the wine. Also, it has a tendency to break up over time if the wine is stored horizontally, as it often is on wine racks, resulting in the wine sometimes being ‘corked’ when served. So it seems that whilst some classic tops are on their way out, at least they are being replaced by superior products.