Which Ah So Should I Buy?

[JIMCOH]

@Brian Tuite

@Larry P

If you buy a cheap one just be sure the arms aren’t too thick, and that it has a rivet or screw in the handle to hold the arms. Some really cheap ones are just crimped and they will come apart relatively quickly.

The best is Monopol and it’s worth it IMO. It’s expensive compared to the ones you’ll see in the check-out lane at Bevmo, but in the big picture, not so much.

I recall someone bringing a cheap one to one of our Zin offlines that broke in the first bottle. The one I have is 30+ years old and still going strong. It’s probably opened as many beer bottles as it has wine bottles.

I have this same one, also purchased well over 20 years ago. It has no name on it unless you count what is on the black plastic case that covers the prongs. The case says “MADE IN TAIWAN”

[Mark_C]

@Corey N.

@David K o l i n

Unbelieveable

I believe it. People be crazy.

Remember this? Got Bretos a one-month suspension. Funny coincidence, his wife is Asian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e4ipwnd648

An editor used “Chink in the Armor” as a headline about Jeremy Lin and the editor was fired.

That said, I’m somewhat dubious about the origins of the name “ah so”, but it’s possible that it’s benign.

When I first started working in IT, I worked with an early word processing system called WANG, which was created by a Chinese gentleman named Wang (Dr. An Wang IIRC).

They had an ad campaign with the slogan “WANG, the chink in IBM’s Armor” (IBM was their chief competitor at the time).

Another was “Go floppy with WANG” as they were one of the first manufacturers to feature floppy disks (the big 8” ones!).

[Mark_Mason]

My ah so has opened millions of beers.

[Jeremy_Holmes]

Just buy a Durand.

[Cris_Drugan]

After breaking off too many corks on my old bottles, I went searching for an “Ah-So”. Found @corkforks on Twitter. Gave it a try and is working great!

[Kirk.Grant]

Buy the Durrand

[David_K_o_l_i_n]

Agree on the Durand. Stupid expensive until you start using it.

[Leonard_Maran]

Good grief, Larry P, when you bring up The National Review site you see immediately an article calling Bernie Sanders a “National Socialist” which is calling him a Nazi. I bring that up simply because I would not believe a single thing on that site now.

[Chris_Blum]

Can you use the ah-so part of the durand independently for younger bottles?

[cjsavino]

@Chris Blum

Can you use the ah-so part of the durand independently for younger bottles?

yes.

[Larry_P]

@Leonard Maran

Good grief, Larry P, when you bring up The National Review site you see immediately an article calling Bernie Sanders a “National Socialist” which is calling him a Nazi. I bring that up simply because I would not believe a single thing on that site now.

I hadn’t gone that deep, just googled criticism of “chink in the armor” and the only other story I found was the Jeremy Lin one, for which I thought the criticism was valid.

[Marc_K]

Monopol, had mine since 2009. Then I got a Durand as well for very old bottles.

[Bob_Foster]

Love the Durand but you MUST make sure the corkscrew section goes in the center of the cork or there is no room for the prongs.