How to sneak booze into the Kentucky Derby (or a concert)

Step 7: Like a Boss

Walk up to the rent-a-cop like a boss. Chat with him or her, looking them in the eye and being cordial. After all, this kind person is going to save you $60 on booze, remember? They're part of the game. Open your cooler for them - offer them a sandwich! Why not?

The last place they're going to want to look is underneath your cooler, and even if they did, it will take the trained eye of someone making more than $12/hr to see the seal now that you've gently scuffed the bottom up a bit on the walk to the gates. 

Find you and your friends a spot to set up camp. Get out your chairs and blankets and sunblock. Get comfy, you're going to be there all day. 

...and when the mood strikes, get a friend to help you lift the cooler up and have another person use a car key to pop the bottom open.  Your cooler will pay out like a slot machine and everyone sitting around you will probably get a lot friendlier. But hey, you have a whole handle to drink, what's the rush? 

Comments

[MLeiter]

just as an fyi... you can do one more mod to the cooler... get a camel-pak bladder and route the hose to the draining nozzle. it might take a few tweaks, but then you don't have to worry about having to dismantle the cooler.

[Pfarmkid]

If you wanted to really get crazy you could find a way to put the screw open lid in the bottom of the inside of the cooler

[dfinney23]

Another handy place for a little booze sumggling is the bag for the folding camp chair you may already be carrying anyway. For the common top-loader with a drawstring you can probably at least fit a couple cans or bags in the pocket formed by the seat as it folds up.

I have a couple with full-length zippers that can each swallow a 6-pack along with the chair, though a couple would be revealed by even a cursory inspection. But how often do you see security checking camp chairs?

[KittyExpress]

Winning ^.^

[Phantombobber]

Are Rent-a-cops and their bosses blocked from reading Instructables?

[Allenwr]

As a currently employed rent-a-cop, no, we are not prohibited. More over, this is a lot of work for someone like me to really care. It would get through any check point and probably the FAA. It's only the blatantly obvious stuff like a 6-pack on top that would get thrown out. Even if more guards were worried about people doing this, there isn't time to flip every cooler. So +1 to this instructable.

[Grouchy1]

And if you put a couple of cans of cheap beer in the top, they throw them out and their work (on you) is done -- or so they think....

[clydicus]

Ah yes... the "confess to a lesser crime" distraction. Always a winner.

[jelte1234]

how about finding a cooler that doesn't use foam, but double walls? then you could just cut the seal, pulling the entire inside out. it would also look fully normal, and you could possibly even just pour it straight in there. or, you could carefully make a hole for a whine baggy and cover up the hole with a fake valve or something.I guess you could, also using the sides, put in 2 or 3 bags of whine ( or same bag with other liquid)

I hope this inspires.
if you make this, please tell me. ( and of course make an "ible)

[J-Ri]

Cool idea, but I have a question... they don't actually go through the contents of the cooler, do they? The last time I went to an event where they checked, the guards simply asked "can I look inside your cooler please?" and anyone who said yes and didn't seem nervous was allowed to pass without the cooler even being opened. I know that most of the time they open the cooler and make sure it's not filled to the top with liquor, but I can't imagine that they have the time to dig through the ice.

[Gunner_sc]

They did at Churchill. We had cans of ginger ale in there and the guard spent some time looking at multiple cans to make sure they weren't beer. It was just enough checking to make sure no one's sneaking in a 6 pack or two.

[jerbear1978]

I was at Rock on the Range this past weekend in Columbus, Ohio and a woman asked me for an empty water bottle. She proceeded to fill it with Whiskey. She then tucked it up under her boobs. Brilliant!!

[Ludwig Von Mech]

You would think that the vulture capitalist vendors would wise up and get decent. I don't mind it when they make a profit, but hey, I gotta work too.

[applesaucemodifier]

I have seen this done with small Platypus(soft-sided water bottle) and hidden.... on the body....
It's crude, but better that paying 8 dollars for a beer.

[travelfeet]

I love this, and will add it to the menu of techniques I've used for sneaking in prohibited beverages.

In response to the gravity feed problem of routing your stash through the drain plug... add some collapsible/removable legs to the bottom on your cooler, or a fold-up small table to put it on. Clearance problem solved.

To be really bad-ass it would be fun to create a pressurized storage area, but hiding the "tap" would take some real effort. I'm thinking a mini bicycle pump to charge it via a schrader valve installed in a screwed on top, then drained through a hose routed to wherever. That top would have to be well hidden though and thus not very accessible for filling...

[redcore4]

have you considered using the plastic bag from inside a box of wine? these are designed to hold liquid, so they aren't as likely to burst or leak - also, they come with a spout you can use to dispense the liquid.

the spout from these boxes can usually be pulled out and then pushed back in again, so you can rinse out the bag before filling it with something stronger.

i have used these before to get into the kind of event where they superficially check bags - if they are feeling the outside of bags rather than looking in, then they won't feel a hard glass bottle; wrapping it in a pillowcase makes it look like a spare shirt if they do check inside the bag...

[EtchdUnltd]

It works better if you create a hidden chamber within the cooler where you can pour in your alcohol and dispense or drink directly from the cooler...No need to pour in ziplock baggies.

[Gunner_sc]

Yeah, this was my first thought, and much more difficult than this. The main problem is A) gravity, and B) wheels. the liquid would have be to higher than the spout, and the only real place to have a spout come out was the wheel wells. On this cooler the drain spout itself was recessed in, so the inner and outer liners were touching.

So spout comes from the wheels.... but where's my cup going to go? We would have to lift the cooler up onto something else, otherwise the spout is almost in the grass and my cup can't fit underneath it.

I do agree that the dispenser idea is best.... some day we'll get there!

[redsunmtm]

it would have been more inteligent and practical do do the same but from inside ! like that you could have the drink colder, and no one could notice what you do inside the fridge !

[Gunner_sc]

Well the problem I saw was that breaching the inner lining meant possible leaks, the seal would be right where the rent-a-cop was looking, and access would mean disturbing the ice. Something to consider for next time! Thanks for reading!

[Phantombobber]

Are Rent-a-cops and their bosses blocked from reading Instructables?

[CrystalDyes]

If you're in the South, you could just forget the sealing up the bottom part and just use duct tape, It would help to have the tape on several parts of the cooler to look like you're trying to be thrifty and save this cooler. Of course, if the cooler is new, that might not fly so well. Check thrift shops for one that is more believable in terms of scuffs and scratches.

[blanchae]

So nobody is going to notice that you and your friends are flipping a cooler over or taking the bottom off in a crowd to get hidden plastic baggies?

[wnordmann]

Everything is free game once you're past the gates. I know it sounds ridiculous but that's the way the game is played.