Long Branch Inventor Puts A New Twist on Canned Beer

1992

By Christina Johnson
With $200 cash and his new invention in hand, Armand Ferranti hit Donovan’s Reef in Sea Bright this summer to conduct a market survey.
With a twist of his Draft Top bar tool, Ferranti demonstrated how anyone can turn a beer can into an open-mouthed container, leaving no sharp edges to allow for safe sipping.
“It was our first true market test, and we got a lot of feedback,” said Ferranti, 33, of Long Branch who co-owns Draft Top with a business partner, Sean Kelly, 27 of Arlington, Virginia.
The idea behind the Draft Top device is to turn a beer can into a something like a pint glass, because while aluminum is an ideal vessel to preserve the integrity of a brew, the small mouth of the can doesn’t allow the beer’s aroma to be savored, and deprives the drinker of the full flavor sensory experience.
Their cheeky motto is “Drink Topless.” In the last week of August, beachgoers from Monmouth Beach to Sandy Hook may have seen the slogan chugging by on a 20-foot banner boat with a tagline promoting their website.
“We’re out to sell the experience of enjoying a beer the way the brewer intended,” said Ferranti. “Think about how you sip wine; you wouldn’t drink it through a straw.”
The Draft Top is described as working by displacing four splitters on the bottom of the device, outwards to the inside rim of the can. The splitters then separate the top from the rim by folding the aluminum into itself.

The Draft Top device will remove the top of a beverage can and leave it with smooth edges for safe drinking.
The Draft Top device will remove the top of a beverage can
and leave it with smooth edges for safe drinking.

It works on 8-16 ounce beverage cans, but not the larger 22-24 ounce and Fosters oil cans. After twisting the beer can top, the lid falls into the beer and must be scooped out.
In a short amount of time, the team has attracted 750 backers on Kickstarter – including fans from Europe, Canada, Singapore, India, and New Zealand. Draft Top is creating a buzz among beer fans and serious hopheads, who see this as a can-opener with real potential.
“Shut up and take my money,” said Ryan Frischhertz, on the Kickstarter campaign page.
On Wednesday, the owners had gotten halfway to their goal to raise $75,000 by Oct. 7 to develop the demand and to get the funding needed to hand assemble the devices. If the campaign exceeds the goal, they are looking to have the manufacturer turnkey the wood-and-steel product.
Pledges begin at $3, but for those putting up $45, supporters will receive a Draft Top with promotional extras. There are other package deals available. The goal is to get the price down to the $20-$30 range, through production efficiencies or hopefully partner deals with beer brands or sports organizations.

The bar tool, at bottom, is made of steel and wood.
The bar tool, at bottom, is made of steel and wood.

It’s a big dream for a self- described gear head, the son of a steel distribution company owner and a nursery school owner, whose first invention as a child growing up in Branchburg were wind- shield wipers for eyeglasses, powered by the motor of a remote control car. “It was kind of ridiculous but when you’re six or seven, you think its cool. It sort of snowballed since from there,” he said.
His interest in figuring how to make things work took him on a path to earning a degree in professional aeronautics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and work as a certified aircraft mechanic, flight instructor and banner towing pilot. Today he works in the aviation insurance field.
It was during flight school, back in the year 2000, when he was introduced to his first “topless” beer. “One of the guys in South Carolina was a true Southern boy and must have seen someone open a beer can with his tooth. So he used one of his lower canine teeth and spun it around and opened it,” Ferranti said, adding it was not bloody. “That was the start of it. And I just remember thinking, drinking a beer like this tastes a lot better.”
A decade later, while opening a bottle of wine with a foil cutter, his mind skipped back to that topless beer experience again. By then, he and his wife Sheena had settled into a century-old house in Long Branch – a place big enough for his eclectic tool collection – and his curiosity led him to down Ocean Boulevard to Vingo in West Long Branch, where he sat in front of every kind of can with a micrometer and began field research into the world of beer cans.
He discovered there are three major can manufacturers serving the 8-16 ounce canned beer market, and he star ted crack that market open to deliver the lid-free experience.
“Three years trial and error and tinkering and thinking of what can you use,” said Ferranti.
The DraftTop.com website features lots of videos and ways the device makes it possible to enjoy lime slices in Corona can, or Bloody Marys with vodka, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce and a slice of lemon and celery stick in a V8 Vegetable Juice.
Some are praising Draft Top for such a simple and ingenious idea, and lamenting they didn’t think of it first.
“Being that I was lucky enough to try a topless can this summer on the lake when you guys were in West Milford, I will say it is a brilliant idea and definitely revolutionizes drinking out of a can, said Jessica Lynn, a Kickstarter backer.
Another backer, Brad Haigh, said, “Love the idea, love it so much I grabbed my can opener to see if it could do the same thing, but sadly it was not up to the task.”
Ferranti is enjoying the response to the Draft Top, and is curious to see explore the world of craft beer shows and gauge the response to his concept, which he’s protecting with a patent. The team is looking for a partnership to better develop and market the product. He says he can’t help telling people about it. They know him on the SeaStreak out of Highlands, where he likes to pull out the Draft Top to give a live demo.
Draft Top could be huge, Ferranti thinks. “It doesn’t have to be the greatest idea. Sometimes it’s just a small change to an everyday problem that might be considered great,” he said.