Rogue Sommelier

How Do I Get This Blasted Thing Open?

I remember, when I was a wee-little rogueling, that my parents had one corkscrew in the house. It was the typical silver two handled jobby. I used play Jumping Jack or Swimming Guy with it.... Kept me entertained for minutes. Jump ahead 30 years... Now going corkscrew shopping can be almost as confusing as trying to understand a German wine label... Almost. I just did a simple Google Shopping search for "Corkscrew" and 18,605 listings later thought my eyes were going to fall out of my head.

One can be quite overwhelmed by Center Post, Pig Tails, Rabbit Ears, Two Prong-ers, Waiter Lever, Air Pump, Table Mounted, etc... and spend anywhere between a $1 to $1000 just get a wine bottle open. Everyone has a favorite style and so do I, but my favorite corkscrew truly depends on the job that I'm doing at the time. For example if I'm hosting a house party I'll keep a version of that Jumping Jack style and a foil cutter right next to the wine and beer. It's convenient and easy enough to use for anyone. When I'm behind the bar I keep a teflon coated waiters friend in a holster on my hip for fast draw. When you have 30 tickets on your bar and speed is a must, every second counts toward keeping customers happy. Rabbit Ear Corkscrews (independent or table mounted) look great but I find them cumbersome and bulky for high pressure/volume bar usage. The old fashion bar mounted lever style also looks great on a heavy wooded brass rail bar and does take the corks out fast... And the long needle air pump injected opener just scares the crap out of me. 

Personally The Rogue won't spend more than $10 on corkscrew. Although I've received more expensive corkscrews as gifts I find that they all get the bottle open.

Here are some attributes that I look for: Look for a pig tail screw (a center post can often mangle the cork), a telfon coated screw makes it easier to get the cork off after extraction, rubber coated bulky grips (for Jumping Jack Style) give better leverage and feel better in the hand. For the waiter style I also look for a good serrated foil knife, a two stage lever (preferably with a hinge between stages this keeps the cork from being damaged when moving to the next stage), and finally a built in bottle cap opener along the outer edge so that the opener does not need to unfolded to open a beer.

Hope This Helps!