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One of the more amusing points of my existence is that every year the first birthday present or Christmas present or card I get is from a local brewery, called Moosehead. Some time ago I must have signed up for something, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. Just to add a bit more amusement to the story, I rarely even drink Moosehead products, and yet every year for my birthday or Christmas, or any other event, before most folks are even thinking of what to send me, there's a package from Moosehead with some coasters, coupons, a shirt or even- and get this, a pair of socks.

 

This year was different- for Christmas this year, Moosehead sent me a keychain knife in the shape of a bottle! Being the SAK enthusiast I am, I couldn't help but be amused at this little multifunction knife featuring a can/bottle opener, small blade, nail file and corkscrew. The good news is that while the masses may actually refer to this as a “Swiss Army Knife” as a generic term, the reality is I doubt even the uninitiated would ever mistake it for a real SAK, as I doubt there are many Moosehead products sold in Switzerland!

Of course I find the tool compliment amusing as well- it is a nice selection, at least for a keychain tool. The amusement stems from a beer company sending out a knife with a corkscrew, which strikes me as kind of like the the folks at Coca Cola suggesting that everyone should drink more milk! Given the size of the knife overall though, the corkscrew doesn't seem like it would be overly effective at pulling a cork, as it seems like it would either break off in the cork, or shred the cork from the inside out. Either way, I have no plans to try it, as I have literally hundreds of other corkscrews to choose from!

 

The nail file and blade are typical sheap knockoff fare, good for opening mail, but not much else. I suppose if I was stranded on a deserted island in the South Pacific and this was the only blade I had, I could make do with it, but I'd hate to have to rely on it if other options were available- and fortunately, wherever I go, I usually carry other options with me!

As is probably not too surprising, the bottle opener works quite well, even on other brands of beer. Since I don't have any Moosehead products handy, I used it to open a Heineken, and it performed quite well for a small keychain knife opener- in fact, it opened better than many other, higher quality bottle openers I have! At least they got something right! I may also try out the can opener function later on when I make some chili for supper, but to be honest, I'm not expecting much there!

 

Some time ago I wrote an article about how cheap advertising knives were a poor advertisement for your brand, and that if you didn't think enough of your customers to provide them with a proper tool, then perhaps they should go somewhere else. I still believe that, but I would also like to take a moment to thank the folks at Moosehead Breweries for this knife, and for all the cards, coasters and other items they have sent me over the years. And, while this may not be the highest quality tool in my collection, it does look neat and comes in a nice presentation box, and I plan to keep it in mint condition by not daring to use it!