Las Vegas Weekly

September 25, 2008 · 7:18 PM

My secret (booze-holding) weapon

By Sarah Feldberg

It looks like a pair of binoculars, it works like a flask: my new secret weapon.

Photo: Scott Den Herder

About a month ago while attending Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, I had one of those head-slapping “doh!” moments. As I shivered under what the city calls fog (and I argue is clearly rain), wishing desperately I had a mug of spiked hot chocolate, I noticed something strange. In front of me a tall young man was watching the Radiohead concert with a pair of huge binoculars around his neck.

Binoculars? At a concert? I’ll admit, it’s not immediately suspicious, but I knew something fishy was going on. First of all, cool young people who go to three-day music festivals don’t tend to carry massive binoculars with them. These were neck-cramping five-pounders, typically reserved for horse racing fans in oversized hats and people who really enjoy spying on exotic birds. This guy looked like neither. That was my first clue.

Photo: Scott Den Herder

Oh. So. Sneaky.

My second clue came when he began fiddling with the binoculars’ eyepiece. Rather than looking through them for a better view of Radiohead’s mesmerizing light show, he lifted the binoculars to his mouth and took a long swig of what I could only assume was some deliciously warming, shivers-banishing elixir. Whiskey perhaps. Or bourbon. Tequila even. That was my second clue.

After returning to Vegas I tracked down the mysterious instrument with the help of Google and was delighted to discover the Binoculars Double Flask ($9.99-$24.99) – an innocuous-looking tool with eye pieces that detach to reveal two flasks for a total capacity of “16 ounces of your favorite drink.” You can bet most music festival/ball park/political convention security guards aren’t going to give your straight-out-of-the-‘70s spectacles an extra glance. So, while everyone else grumbles about $7 Heinekens and the Prohibition-era liquor rules, you’ll be feeling good, enjoying happy hour without having to waste any money or leave your seat.

Now, someone pass me the sparkling cider.

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