Simply sophisticated: Oliver Brown’s flasks & cups

There’s sometimes a small measure of consolation for those of us who, after a fortifying supper, decide that there’s no more putting it off: it’s finally time to go through our fishing bags and Have a Good Sort-Out. We haul it down from on top of the cupboard, clear a space on the table and begin to unpack it like some damp, slightly smelly piscine Christmas stocking. There’s almost certainly a fishing line in the bag, beginning to perish on its reel. We give it a couple of turns, savouring the fluid clicking of the ratchet, then lay it to one side. Then we reach back in. What’s this? Ah yes. The nail-scissors we pinched from the medicine cupboard. Probably best just to pop those back in the bag before anyone sees… Then there’s a short tangle of nylon, thrust in there in a fury after catching that overhanging branch like a rank amateur. Into the bin it goes. Then there’s a fly wallet that, as ever, needs organising. There’s our old hip flask… But what’s this? If I’m not very much mistaken, there’s something sloshing about in there! I wonder what it is. I wonder if, well, yes perhaps just a drop… And so it begins, ends, and begins again. There’s nothing like a good, reliable hip flask. Each of us knows who gave us ours and when, or where we bought it. So whether it’s for a son or godson, daughter or goddaughter – or even for oneself – we know that every flask we sell is a little bit of history in the making: We have a beautifully simple, round leather one as well as an equally classic oblong version: Then there’s a bigger, share-it-around cylindrical flask. There are the rather more subtle, ever-so-slightly more selfish cartridge flasks… …a trio of glass flasks for those who value variety… …not to mention the exquisite hand-blown hunting flask. You can view our full range here.