Back in 2016, I started noticing a ton of bottle openers popping up in the EDC community. I wondered if I could come up with a design of my own that would be well received. I sketched out a bunch of ideas, and I wanted to go with something that had a little attitude. I was inspired by the shark design on military planes from previous eras, and the Beer Bomb was born.
I teamed up with my best friend Nick, who happens to be a mechanical engineer, and he modeled it up based off my sketch. We made the first few versions with a 3D printer, and I decided on a size I liked, as well as some design changes to make it more functional and aesthetically what I was looking for.
Then we made some more protos, this time in aluminum, to get it closer to the titanium vibe I was after. The aluminum proto was good to go, and I took it to production with a shop in the USA, making a batch of 100 titanium bead blasted pieces. About a dozen didn't meet my expectations, I gave some to friends, some went to get limited/one-off Cerakote, and the remaining plain ti versions went into the world as well.
Over the years, a lot of people have DMed me on IG asking when I'd be bringing them back, and I always felt that I was too busy with my photo career to dedicate the time to NotoriousEDC to do it right. In 2020, I finally got the itch to make some more and see how one batch would do. I teamed up with Nick again to make some minor tweaks to the Beer Bomb which would make them slightly easier to machine. The only major visual change being the makers mark on the fin, an abstract “N” I designed.
After having a rather difficult time getting them manufactured in the USA, I decided to have them made by Reate Knives. They make some of the best production knives in the world, so I felt like the project was in good hands. The owner of Reate, David, is a knife fan as well, and he did an absolutely stellar job on these.
The first batch of V2 Beer Bombs came in two main variants; plain stonewashed and stonewashed black PVD, both grade 5 Ti. There were also some limited pieces: a darker OD green and Hunter Orange cerakote, a bronze ano exclusive via Urban EDC Supply, and a few 'city camo' pieces. And who could forget the two insane collab pieces with Jon Brown aka ScoopyLoops.
After dropping the V2 Beer Bombs in 2020, I was blown away by the response, and they were selling out pretty much immediately every time I did a drop. I remain flattered and humbled by the interest from the community, and the DMs of people telling me that they’ve been waiting since 2016 for them to come back. I am absolutely thrilled to see so many people enjoying my gear, and I truly thank you for the support!