Three years ago, I bought a nice bottle of chocolate liqueur at the Turin airport. It was modeled after the Mole Antonelliana, perhaps the town’s most famous monument. Sleek glass, beautiful Italian design—I thought it would make for a great display piece once it was empty.
The liqueur itself was okay. We used it mainly as chocolate sauce for vanilla ice cream on occasion. But those occasions were rare, and so, years later, the bottle still wasn’t empty. My mom recently encouraged me to not drink whatever was left, so I figured it was finally time.
I emptied the bottle and rinsed it. I filled it with some dish soap and hot water, then rinsed it again. Unfortunately, I realized, the chocolate liqueur had crusted up in various places. I couldn’t fully clean the bottle. It would always have some brown spots on the inside of the glass. But I already had an idea of how I wanted to use the bottle as a decoration piece, so I wasn’t gonna give up that easily.
For the next week, I followed a new routine. Every morning, I filled the bottle with dish soap and hot water. Then, I let it soak. Later, I turned it over and poured out the water while shaking it. This way, the water would splash around and tear off a few of the crusted bits inside. Still, some stains wouldn’t budge.
Halfway through the week, I changed my strategy: vinegar. I followed the same process, but now, I used a mix of vinegar and water. I kept varying the recipe. I also tried limescale remover, a vinegar-based cleaning liquid, and, ultimately, pure vinegar.
At the end of the week, I left for a short trip. Afterwards, life got busy, so, for the next seven days, the bottle stayed where it was. Who knew? Maybe soaking it longer would do the trick.
When week two was almost up, I pulled one more ace out of my sleeve: Coca-Cola. I remember hearing once that Coke is quite acidic and can dissolve almost anything. Why not put this theory to the test? I ordered some bottles.
Just as I was about to start the experiment, however, something happened: When I drained the week-long vinegar treatment from the bottle, one by one, the last four specks of hardened liqueur floated out. “Wow! Amazing!” I literally yelled out loud. “Ha! It worked!”
I rinsed the bottle a few more times and washed it one last time with soap. I removed the sticker around its neck, dried it, and set it up on the dining table. I have a lamp head you can attach to various items. As expected, it fit the bottle perfectly. Now, I have a pristine replica of one of Italy’s great buildings illuminating my meals. It’s a pretty unique piece of decoration, and I love it.
When I first stared at those stains in the bottle, I didn’t know how I’d get rid of them. But I knew this problem was solvable. I’m not sure why this particular challenge grabbed me. I’m not an interior designer by any means. But I felt dogged, and, to accelerate, I got a little obsessed. In the battle of man vs. bottle, I wasn’t going to back down.
Once you settle into a problem, solving it becomes almost inevitable. All you have to do is stay there. Never mind the time. You might make three attempts in one day or none for a week. As long as you keep engaging, eventually, the wall will turn into a door.
Even small battles can be worth winning. Know when to stay in the ring, and get comfortable resting against the ropes.
