A soft spot for bottle openers: Curiosities from all over the world dangle in Karin Hopfensperger's cellar bar

Created: 01/28/2022, 07:06

By: Theresa Kuchler

Opening beer in a curious way: Karin Hopfensperger has been collecting bottle openers of every imaginable variety in her cellar bar for decades.

She calls a good 450 pieces her own – one more original than the other.

© Rainer Lehmann

Karin Hopfensperger's cellar bar from the Freising district is covered all over with bottle openers.

The collector owns more than 450 pieces - one more original than the other.

Freising

– Karin Hopfensperger descends the steps of the tiled cellar staircase and turns into the room at the end of the corridor.

Into the heart of your house: the cellar bar.

"This is my museum," says the 77-year-old, pointing to the hundreds of bottle openers that dominate the approximately 20 square meter room.

They dangle close together under the ceiling, hang from the shelf above the bar, fill the cupboard on the wall.

Hopfensperger estimates that there are around 450 bottle openers in total.

She can't say exactly.

"I never counted them."

The senior citizen from the Freising district has been a collector for half her life.

She now has bottle openers in the most curious shapes and variations, some tiny, others as big as a forearm.

The appearance of the handles ranges from the carved little monkey and the old silver medal to the brightly painted clown figure that can be put together.

The more unusual the better.

Collecting for half a lifetime - most of the bottle openers dangle in the heart of the house, the cellar bar

The openers that Hopfensperger can't hang up are draped in the closet behind the bar. These are, for example, little wooden gnomes with metal bottle openers in the shape of a guitar stuck to their stomachs, magnetically attached.

The 77-year-old brings out a few of them.

"I always have to be careful that everything doesn't get thrown out right away," she says and laughs.

The majority of the collection fits into the basement room with the massive bar counter, which Hopfensperger has left unchanged for years.

The American slot machine on the wall, the red corner sofa, the record player playing ABBA - all relics of bygone days.

In the meantime, there is no longer enough space in her "museum" for all the 77-year-old's collections.

"Meanwhile, my bottle openers are spread all over the house," says Hopfensperger.

Bottle opener after bottle opener dangle from the ceiling and above the bar. © Rainer Lehmann

The elderly woman can easily explain why the collector is particularly fond of bottle openers: "I've always liked drinking beer," she says and laughs.

"Besides, my name isn't Weinsperger, it's Hopfensperger."

"I've always liked drinking beer"

The senior citizen got hold of many openers at the flea market, in antique shops or when she was travelling.

"I've often been amazed at what some people open bottles with," she recalls of many a find and smiles.

Especially in the USA or African countries she was able to discover particularly curious pieces, for example openers that look like weapons.

Karin Hopfensperger was also given some of the items from the collection.

They were souvenirs from friends who were guests in their basement bar and took part in the many lavish parties that were celebrated there.

This also applies to the bottle opener that laid the foundation for the collection almost 40 years ago.

The elderly woman would like to show it, so she slips behind the counter and takes an opener with a simple, smooth handle in silver from the shelf above the bar.

She puts it on the tiled shelf.

“That was my first,” she introduces the piece.

"A friend of mine brought it to our basement bar." Hopfensperger liked the bottle opener so much that she didn't want to give it up.

The beginning of a new passion.

"It just kind of grew into a collection automatically from there," she says.

The first bottle opener was a guest gift

When a few hundred bottle openers had already found their way into the Hopfenspergers' cellar bar, her husband Günter gradually got involved.

Before that, his wife's hobby hadn't bothered him much.

"But at some point he then claimed that he had laid the foundation stone," says the 77-year-old and laughs.

However, she started the collection on her own, and only gradually did her husband contribute his part.

He brought bottle openers from acquaintances and work colleagues who knew about the enthusiasm.

Günter Hopfensperger died eight years ago.

After that, the senior citizen didn't give up collecting bottle openers - but the social evenings in the cellar bar became fewer.

"It was a long period of time that I wasn't down there anymore," says Karin Hopfensperger.

She looks around the room with which she has so many memories.

In her museum.

Karin Hopfensperger does not have a precise overview of her collection - nevertheless, no piece is duplicated

"I've known what I have for a long time," she says, looking around at her collection.

"At some point I lost track of things." That doesn't bother the 77-year-old.

She says she no longer remembers how long each piece was or where she got it from.

"But it still doesn't happen to me that I have something twice."