Beverage container carrier

A planar carrier for carrying a plurality of containers of liquid;

• said planar carrier having a center line;
• a pair of side edges, and a pair of end edges;
• said carrier being made from a one piece paperboard blank having a machine direction;
• the carrier comprising:
• a top ply and a bottom ply joined together along a hinge line, said hinge line extending perpendicular to the machine direction and defining one of said carrier end edges;
• said top ply and bottom ply each including a plurality of aligned container receiving apertures formed in a 2×n array, wherein n is an integer greater than 1 such that there are two columns of container receiving apertures;
• a plurality of slits extending radially from the each aperture in at least one of said top and bottom plies to define container engaging tabs to support a container in said carrier when said carrier is lifted;
• at least one finger hole in the bottom ply;
• the finger hole having an elongate edge, said elongate edge being parallel to the machine direction of the paper board;
• at least one finger hole in the top ply;
• said top ply finger hole including a tab sized and shaped to extend down through said bottom ply finger hole when said carrier is lifted;
• said finger hole tab being hingedly connected to said top ply along a hinge line generally parallel to the machine direction of said paperboard;
• wherein said container receiving apertures are outboard of the center line of the carrier;
• and wherein said at least one finger hole is positioned outboard of the carrier centerline such that an line extending from radial outer ends of said tab defining slits pass adjacent to or through said finger hole.