Bang & Olufsen Bottle Opener

In January, you can always rely on your insurance guy to give you a calendar.  Berwyn Trains & Hobbies has promo flyswatters, the deli used to give out dustpans, and the hardware store always has keychains.  So these cheapie giveaways can almost become a tradition.  Bang & Olufsen is a manufacturer of stylish hi-fi equipment, and they have a similar promotional giveaway tradition.

B&O sells a lot of high end audio visual gear with a high sense of design.  Audiophiles have long disputed the balance of form versus function in B&O gear, but it would be hard to argue the utility of this classy giveaway that dates back to 1937.

Open this cardboard folder to reveal the Bang & Olufsen bottle opener.  Based on B&O's stylized logo (though the opener is upside down in the sleeve - sorry!), this little chrome beauty has the heft you need to contend with any number of bottles.  The text inside reads: "We advise you to hang onto your new opener.  It is the oldest, the most produced and the most stolen of all the bang & Olufsen products". 

With the elitist attitude accorded B&O, you'd think that they'd give out a corkscrew, or a special tool for plucking pheasants.  Nice of them to give away a "regular guy" thing like a bottle opener.  I think that I'll use it to crack open a Pilsner next time I'm spinning records on a B&O turntable.