James Squire has unveiled Australia’s most valuable bottle opener worth over $30,000, which has been handcrafted by world-renowned designer, Neil Ferrier, with all profits from the sale of the opener being donated to Rural Aid.
The one-off engineering effort has been handcrafted from sterling silver, burl walnut, grade five titanium and incredibly rare Damascus steel, which was used to make ancient swords and took three years to source.
Anubha Sahasrabuddhe, Chief Marketing Officer at Lion said: “Neil has crafted a fantastic companion piece to our first release in James Squire’s new Pioneers’ Collection. This one-of-a kind piece – inspired by Pioneers’ Collection Release No.1 – showcases our shared love of craftsmanship, innovation, and for bringing unconventional ingredients together to create something unique and truly extraordinary. We look forward to seeing this one-of-a-kind piece take pride-of-place in the home of someone who appreciates cutting edge design and boundary pushing beer.”
Taking over 150 hours to meticulously craft, the collectors item is the brainchild of world-renowned founder of design firm Discommon, Ferrier, to celebrate the launch of the James Squire Pioneers’ Collection – a limited edition range of small batch, barrel-aged beers, reimagining the richly hopped English IPA. Only 5,000 bottles of the James Squire’s Pioneers’ Collection Release No.01 will be available for a limited time.
Ferrier said: “From the initial ideation to the finishing touches of the bottle opener, uniting exceptional design and meticulous execution was always front of mind, which aligned Discommon well with the James Squire Pioneers’ Collection.
“The collision of rich history and modern and progressive practices from James Squire led to the creation of a truly unique bottle opener, and incorporating these two worlds was both challenging and exciting in the design process.”
John Warlters, CEO of Rural Aid said: “Australia’s farmers are recognised as being among the best in the world. Their efforts are universally focused on quality – producing the best food and produce to feed us all. James Squire pays homage to that same pursuit of perfection. It is fitting then that the proceeds from the auction of the bottle opener will allow Rural Aid to help safeguard our farming families.”
James Squire’s Pioneers’ Collection Release No.01 will be available nationwide for a limited time. The RRP is AUD $49.00 for a single hand-finished 750mL bottle and can be purchased from today at Dan Murphy’s nationwide, and on tap at James Squire brewhouses from early December.