Today in Gear: August 7, 2014

Today in Gear: Hydrapak’s collapsible water bottle, Adidas Boost B-Ball kicks, a jerky-like snack invades BK, GoPro’s cameras have a friend in Knog’s new [Quodos] Action Light and more.

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Hydrapak Stash Collapsible Water Bottle
Hydrapak’s newest water bottle is a grower, not a shower. Its innovative design holds more than the standard Gatorade and, when emptied, the TPU walled bottle collapses to two inches. Available in a variety of colors, the Stash Bottle is dishwasher-safe, naturally anti-fungal and perfect for hiking or camping. $18

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Adidas CrazyLight Boost Shoes
“Light” as in weight — these shoes won’t light up with each step. As much as may disappoint our nine-year-old selves, these basketball shoes feature something better: for the first time, Adidas has incorporated BOOST foam into their basketball sneaks, allowing players to drive to the hole faster and more effortlessly than ever before. global.adidas.com

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Brooks England Toolkit MT21
The Swiss Army knife of bike tools, this gadget’s got everything for when your iron horse gets a limp. Featuring seven allen keys (2mm to 8mm), three screwdrivers, three torx wrenches, one chain tool, a knife and — for at the end of the day — a bottle opener. We’ve converted the price to dollars because, you guessed it, this toolkit ships from across the pond. $84

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Brooklyn Biltong
Similar to jerky, but softer and chewier, biltong is a popular snack food in South Africa. The owner of this burgeoning company brought his renowned family recipe from the rainbow nation to Brooklyn and the snack is anything but invasive. Advertised as a post-workout meal or a quick protein fill, a portion of their earnings goes to feeding Brooklyn’s homeless. Bags are sold individually and in bulk. $9 per bag ()

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Knog [Qudos] Action Light
This light doesn’t discriminate. It partners with GoPro 2, Hero3/Hero3+, any Sony action camera or any camera with a GoPro mount to help you illuminate your nocturnal escapades. Waterproof up to 40 meters and IP68 tested, it produces 400 lumens of light from three powerful Cree LEDs. And at 150 grams, it won’t off-balance your surf board. $119

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MasterCraft X20
When the ocean’s flat, get perfectly shaped, chest-high, customizable waves on demand at all hours of the day from the back of a boat. The X20 is MasterCraft’s first watercraft specifically designed for wakesurfing and wakeboarding. At 20 feet long and available in any color, this water toy pairs 2,000 pounds of ballast with a Generation 2 Surf system to provide a perpetual swell. mastercraft.com

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How to Drink Absinthe Like a Gentleman
Absinthe’s history mirrors the way it’s meant to be prepared: a mix of the misunderstood and the legitimately unusual. For most of its existence, the spirit has been slandered, ostracized and, in rarer cases, revered. It’s been dragged across borders, masqueraded as other liquors, aspersed with hallucination claims and — since its ban was lifted in America in 2007 — the zephyr has been secretly embracing it all. Read this story