There are three basic ways of opening a bottle when this happens:
- Break the ring, so the bottle will now open easily. if the ring has multiple parts, you can try to pry the individual bits up with needle nose pliers if you can get a grip under them. Otherwise you use a screwdriver like a chisel to try to break the connections between the ring and the cap (but you risk breaking the bottle if you hit too hard), a knife to try to pry the ring free (but beware of slipping and cutting yourself; you may want to take precautions like for opening oysters), or heavy scissors or tin snips to cut it free; some people have suggested serated knives or a saw)
- You can try to squeeze the cap enough that the threads will engage, but not so much that you crush it so tightly that it won’t turn. Most pliers will not work for this, and you need something that’s designed for small pipes or large nuts. I personally use ‘slip joint pliers’ (commonly known in the US by the brand name ‘channel lock’. If you have ones that are meant for grabbing hex head bolts or pipes, they’ll typically make better contact. A large enough nut cracker may also work. You could also try using a clamp to crush the cap so it’s more oval shape, but then using something else to give you grip to remove the cap.
Once you get the cap off, beware that it may not make a good seal, and you may want to transfer the contents to a bee bottle.
Your last option is worse than the other two, as it’s more likely to get debris into the contents: make a hole in the top of the lid. You ideally want to use some sort of a punch that won’t create small bits (like a drill would). for instance could try hammering a large, clean nail into the top. (Or start with a smaller nail, then switch to a larger one to widen it after you’ve broken through). If you have a ‘church key’ type can opener, that creates a triangular hole in a can, you might see if you can get it to grip enough to get the leverage needed (unlikely, but worth a try), or hammer it in. You might still need a nail afterwards, as some of these lids have a plastic inner lining on top.
And if you use the third one, you will definitely want to transfer the contents to a new container… and maybe strain it, too, or let it settle for a while don’t pour off the last half inch (in case any debris sank to the bottom), but also watch for any they may have floated to the top.