Recent content by MJL

I just noticed you're drinking Maker's Mark. The higher proof versions are absolutely amazing. I was at a whiskey event in Miami this spring where Marker's Mark showed up with some of their special bottles. The one that I tried that shocked me was their white dog at still strength. I cannot...

I don't drink fast enough to prevent those paper cups from springing leaks. The high proof bourbons/ryes that I drink straight just eat through the glue holding the paper cups together. Now, I travel with plastic red Solo cups that have the added advantage of allowing me to measure out my pours.

Incidentally, for anyone else bargain hunting at the Hatco/Resistol/Stetson outlets, we were able to hit the other location in St. Joseph, Missouri on our return trip to the east. We promised ourselves not to bother after striking out here in 2023 but we were able to obtain some tickets to a...

That's a good point and have done the same at the St Jo location. In the past I was willing to buy dusty, creased, old stock that was on sale from the $129 but no percentage off is a no sale for me. We had a good day in the end and I dropped the $600 that I was going to spend on hats on...

The fur felt fedoras in my size range did not look great and were $129,no additional discount. That amount for a dusty, creased, bashed old stock hat is just not going to be something I will lay out cash for. I have dropped $600 here, in the past, and have enough hats, from past visits, to last...

Well, I'll be in the Dallas area tomorrow and will try to give the HatCo outlet one more try....sounds like a Hank Williams song. Any heads up, in advance, about what I might fedoras I might find? I'd love to pick up a few stratoliners and or some temples. Wish me luck.

I was not able to add any nice fedora this summer which has us rethinking our summer 2024 routes out west. We have for many years arranged our summer travels west to allow us to hit at least one of the HATCO outlet facilities. Now, we are reexaming that plan. Perhaps more on that later. The...

Well, we are headed back to Florida after digging petrified wood in Arizona and fossils along the Nevada/ Utah border. We stepped in to the Stetson factory outlet store in St Joseph, Missouri on 15 July 2023. A few years back I was able to buy Stetson Temple and Stratoliners for $75 or less...

I'll provide my own answer to this question. We arrived at the outlet, in Garland, TX, soon after opening. No sale on fur felt fedoras. Stock on the floor, in my sizes, 7 5/8-7 3/4, was limited and in poor shape. Most looked like practice pieces with visible and obvious flaws. The only thing...

We're heading west again and might angle through Dallas just to stop in at the Resistol factory outlet. Does anyone have a report of what sort of stock they might be offering of fur felt fedoras like Temples, Stratoliners, etc? I called the store a few times and could not get straight answers...

Thanks a bunch. I just checked the labels and there is no mention of wool at all. This hat was either a second quality or old stock that I bought at the HATCO/Resistol Outlet in Garland, Texas. The hat looks good and I think that I was lucky to have been able to grab this one. Thanks for help.

Interesting. Is there any way to tell the difference between the wool and fur felt Whippet? The one that I picked up in July in Garland is quite light and thin but for the life of me I cannot determine if this is wool or fur felt. The wool fedora that I've owned, in the past, seem to have been...

I'm unpacking my hat purchases from this summer and a question emerged. Are all of the currently manufactured Stetson Whippet made from wool? I'm asking because some of the online discussions seem to suggest that there are fur felt Whippet. I would love to post photos but every time I try doing...

Well, I am back with a new report in 2021. In 2019 we were not able to buy from the two HATCO stores for a few odd reasons. First, we rolled in to Dallas in time for the Garland store to be closed for the July 4th holiday, then, when we visited the St. Jo location we found no fur felt fedora for...