Indeed, the Ardbeg 10 year old is a big favorite, and has replaced the Lagavulin 16 yr, as my go to malt since it was destroyed by Diageo. I'll still take the older Lagavulin special bottlings and a good Caol Ila for a change.
We just spent a glorious 2 hours at the Aberfeldy Visitor Centre bar. 3 21 yr Olds....two 25 yr and a 40. Capped off with a 13 yr old Craigallachie finished on Armanac casks. The 40 was sublime but the 13 out of Armanac casks was damn fine too.....for only $100 a bottle.
John Lofgren Monkey Boots Shinki Horsebuttt - $1,136 The classic monkey boot silhouette in an incredibly rich Shinki russet horse leather. 
Grant Stone Diesel Boot Dark Olive Chromexcel - $395 Goodyear welted, Horween Chromexcel, classic good looks. 
Schott 568 Vandals Jacket - $1,250 The classic Perfecto motorcycle jacket, in a very special limited-edition Schott double rider style. This Optimo came in today. It’s an absolutely beautiful 59. It fits tight on my head. For $255 I’m tempted to keep it. I’ll get some good pictures tomorrow.I bought this hat. Mostly because it annoys me.
1.) It doesn’t match anything Optimo currently offers
2.) As far as I can tell, Optimo never made a wool hat - I assume mislabeled
3.) This site is good at authentication but absolutely horrible at sizing and photos. I want to see the inside.
4.) They have a good return policy - as long as something isn’t listed as no returns, which this isn’t.
If you aren’t familiar, The Real Real does curated consignment. You send them a box of stuff you can’t sell or won’t sell otherwise, and they photograph and list it for you. Upside, easy. Downside, the money split is tiered such that your return on the first $1k sales or so is hot garbage, and they are in complete control of initial pricing and price drops for stagnant inventory. It mostly only works for people with high volume well-known luxury brand turnover, or if you have a closet full of lessons learned that you just want to go away with a minimum of fuss. This hat doesn’t belong with them. Somebody’s wife probably chucked it in a box along with the rest of her husband’s stuff, if I had to guess. Nightmare fuel lol
That is what I know. Now hopefully you guys can help me figure out some things I don’t know.
I can’t find anything from Optimo that looks like this hat.
Maybe some folks with longer memories can help out. Surely they could make this hat if they wanted to, but I imagine it would be a custom order - unless this is a recognizable form factor from an earlier era or product line or whatever.
FYI, assuming the hat gets here and doesn’t fit me, or I otherwise decide I don’t want it, anybody from FTL that wants it can have it for what I’ve got in it, but you’d have to move quick to clear funds while I’m still inside the return window.
I will post a bunch of pics as soon as it gets here.
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