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written by Sam Greenspan

A YouTube video shows a guy opening a beer bottle with a sheet of paper. I decided to MythBust the video and try doing it myself.

We’re in St. Patrick’s Day season, and that means drinkin’ season. Last week, some guy posted a YouTube video where he opened a beer using just a sheet of paper. I saw it yesterday when, naturally, it made Time magazine’s website. (In fact, I hear he’s an early contender for their Person of the Year.)

It looked almost too easy. It also reminded me of a project we did in elementary school where we had to use just like two pieces of paper, a popsicle stick and a rubber band to build a structure that could support a cup of water. So… I decided to MythBust it.

Fortunately, we had two bottles of beer in our refrigerator with non-twist-off caps. God knows how long they’ve been in there for. I’m guessing New Year’s Eve, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it was Yom Kippur break fast.

I followed the instructions from the video and… well… let’s check the tape.

Yup. It actually worked. I’m as shocked as you are.

And now… caveats!

(1) The whole project looks great condensed to six seconds, but really took about 1:30 of folding, bending and trying to pop the cap loose.

(2) The big key is to really keep the creases and folds tight. It helps the structural integrity. On my first several tries I folded haphazardly and never got it strong enough.

(3) On both my practice beer and my beer in the video, the paper wound up loosening the cap a little first, then finally allowing the big pop.

(4) I think with a little more practice, I could probably get it off without that struggle. But I don’t really want to waste the time or the beers. As I said in my post about trying to beat Super Mario Bros. with my feet, I’m no longer driven to master absurd party tricks.

(5) This project took me 17 sheets of paper, two beers and three hours. There’s a reason bottle openers exist.