Hip flasks and Hot Tips for Tipples

When it comes to choosing the right flask and the right drink to put in it, Regent's here to help you use your melon...

The inside of a melon – yessir, whenever you sneak a swig from your favourite trusty hip flask, remember that this is where it all started when, in the Middle Ages, folk would carve out the insides of fruits to store their liquor in for carrying. Indeed, this quirky, semi-secretive and crafty spirit has been borne through the evolution of the hip flask across the ages, where it's now become a beloved, intimate and crucial item for any gentlemen of leisure who keeps his drink close to his heart.

Whether slotted into your cartridge pouch for a shoot, or slipped into your suit pocket for an evening out, the modern hip flask – often burnished in fine leather and inscribed with a quip – has it's own spirit: like a personal sprite or imp, it sits in your jacket fuelling you with a sense of adventure. We're here to help you decide what to put inside it to keep the spirit of the hip flask alive.

The ideal, most sought after beverage is a blended or single malt whisky: you want something that piques and then keeps your interest, something that justifies the small, spread-out sips that a hip flask encourages across an evening.

Our bet would be Sheep Dip's classic blend, thanks to its production from thirteen single malts, all expertly entwined from different regions across Scotland. This gives the whisky a continual rolling tangle of different flavors: a mellow and sweet nose follows up on a raw oat and biscuit character for the palate, while the finish is reminiscent of a ripe apple skin, taking you on a dusky summer-evening journey across flavors. This is a whisky whose unique, intelligent entrapment of various different notes is something that other whiskies have tried to attain but often fail at: Sheep Dip has it all.

Another fitting liquor for the hip flask is The Highland Harvest Sauternes Finished Single Malt. Just as the name suggests, this whisky is aged in French sweet wine barrels, gifting this elegant, floral whisky a marmalade, orange and honey layer and making it wonderfully moreish, sweet to nose and mouth. Crafted by the Organic Spirit Company, this whisky harnesses lovingly harvested organic crops to create an unusual yet easy to love drink. Balanced and fruitful, this is that sweeter treat that'll keep you entertained over a nighttime adventure.