The Society of the Old Hat Part 1 - a Historical Perspective

This is the first in a three blog series about the Old Hat, it’s history, the people who frequent it, and speculation of what might lie ahead for this cultural institution.

It’s Wednesday, Mug Club night at the Old Hat. Only one problem the Old Hat is closed. Only temporarily though, as the latest in a string of entrepreneurs rearranges their newly acquired asset and prepare to embark on a journey of uncertainty, instability and seemingly countless hours of hard work to try and turn this favorite watering hole into a profitable venture. It is this setting that has caused me to stop and contemplate this latest turn in the on going saga we all know as the Old Hat. I wish them luck and truly hope they will succeed.

The Old Hat is a simple little brewery, located in the heart of downtown Lawton, Michigan. Lawton, population approx 1860, is located about 3 miles south of Paw Paw, MI and Interstate 94 on highway M-40. The Old Hat opened originally in 1993 as Duster’s Brewery by former owner, the late Phil Balog. Phil was known for two things, his good ales and his bad temper.

In 1998 Balog sold the brewery to Larry Bell – Kalamazoo Brewing. Tom Fuller replaced Phil Balog as the brew master and Larry renamed the place the Old Hat Brewery. Larry kept the bar as more of a craft brewery with it’s own beer selection separate from Bell’s Brewery. He adorned the walls with Hats and started a Mug Club. The bar gradually started offering live music on weekends, expanded operating hours and days to 7 days a week and offered an eclectic food menu.

In 2003, the Old Hat went through another change, as Bell’s Brewery grew in size it transitioned into a newly created classification of brewery created by the Michigan LCC. This new classification put it somewhere between micro-brewery and Budweiser. It had one other effect, it required Kalamazoo Brewing and Larry Bell to divest themselves of the Old Hat. While a deal was worked out, the Old Hat sat closed for the first 5 months of 2003.

In the end brew master, Tom Fuller was able to put together a partnership to purchase the brewery. The brewery reopened Memorial Day Weekend 2003 as the Old Hat Brewery and Grill. The new ownership worked hard to maintain the ambience that had made the Old Hat a local institution. As funds dwindled another partner was added to the mix to help keep the ship afloat. Consistency problems plagued the beer, some do to problems beyond the small breweries control (bad Malt) and the lose of some regulars for various reasons occurred, but the owners trudged on. But in late 2005 it was becoming apparent that the Old Hat was in serious trouble. In early 2006, rumors run rampant.

Finally during the first weekend of March 2006 came another change. The Old Hat had been sold again. The new partnership of Oz and Freda Osborne and Scott Shugars had taken over. The deal is still fresh and has to have all the loose ends taken care of, but for all practical purposes, it is done. I was told by Oz that Tom will still be brew master, as an employee and not an owner. They are closed this week while these new owners primp and clean and re-arrange and try to make it there own. They are showing great enthusiasm, but seem also to be aware of the mountain of work ahead of them.

So once again the Old Hat morphs. It would be of no use to detail all the rumors and innuendo that I have heard about why the last owners didn’t make a profit. After all, it was rumored that Bell’s didn’t make any money on it either and it was more of a hobby. But that really is of no consequence for this blog. It really doesn’t matter and because I consider them friends, my heart goes out to them, knowing what stress this has caused in their lives and wish them well in the future.

What does matter is the Social Institution that is the Old Hat and what drives it. Why is it what it is? How has it changed? What will it become? The music, the people, the beer. To me this is far more interesting than the nuisances of business dealings that don’t live up to their potential. And that is what is driving this blog. As stated above, this is installment one in a three part series. This is the history part, what got it to where it is today. Part two will explore the evolution of the social institution. Part three will speculate on where it might be headed from here.

I have lain out above what a brief history of the Old Hat itself. My experience with the Old Hat has evolved over time also. My own experience helps define my viewpoint of the Old Hat Society so to speak.

I moved to Paw Paw with my wife and two children in 1994. As we started to learn more and more about the area we ventured South on occasion to Lawton. We found Lawton to be a curious little town having 3 major restaurants in such a small burg. It was during the Duster’s days that we first experienced the brewery. I found the beer to be quite good, but quite often these excursions were part of a dining out and the menu at Duster’s was small and the food erratic.

You also could never tell when it was going to be open. As I had read in restaurant review, it was easier to get Duster’s beer at Big T across the street, because they were open far more. Besides I could also get Duster’s at the local party store, so if I felt like having a Wing Over Red, that was easy, I simply bought a six pack. This coupled with my new found hobby of home brewing amounted to only an occasional visit. As it was I never experienced the Blalog temper that I would hear tales of later on.

In 1998 I was working for Pharmacia & Upjohn. Part of my job had me go to Stockholm, Sweden for 6 months. I lived in an apartment there on Söldermalm Island, in an area called Mariatoreget. Two blocks from my apartment, on my way to the subway every day, was a little tavern that I quickly grew fond of called the Loch Ness Tavern. The Loch Ness was a very small neighborhood tavern with a very friendly Swedish clientele that adopted a couple of miss-placed Americans as there own. In the Loch Ness over those 6 months I got a real sense of a community tavern. They had a “tavern guitar” that they would pull down off of the beer cooler and pass around for those that played. This was the first bar I ever played a guitar in and sang, in public.

Upon returning to Paw Paw in 1998, my long time friend and guitar player, Jimmy Sadler and I reconnected. He told me about a blues jam that was going on in Paw Paw at the old Dyckman Saloon. I grabbed my guitar and went down one Sunday to find a short, bald headed harmonica player and a guitar player who looked left over from the sixties. Their blues was great, the sounds were bold and robust and full of life. I returned often on Sunday, and they were gracious enough to let this very amateur act to sit in and play. I could go on about the early days at the Dyckman, but that is another blog. Needless to say, the harp player was the renowned Dave Hunt of the band Seventh Son and the guitar player was Brent Chilton, both who over the years I have become friends with.

During this time a bearded bass player would join them quite often, sitting in the cramped space on an old Ampeg Amp. He worked for the railroad and could play anything. This is how I met C. Buggs Coombs and how I discovered the Old Hat.

This was time, 1998 – 1999 that that Duster’s was becoming the Old Hat. The Mug Club started and C. Buggs being from Lawton and a regular at Duster’s and then the Old Hat, won a draw with John “Cookie Man” Cook to be Mug number 1 in the club. It was also about this time that the management at the Dyckman started jerking around this little no-name band that played a blues jam on Sunday nights. So after several disputes with the Dyckman, Tom Fuller, brew master and manager of the Old Hat, as well as good friend of C. Buggs, offered the band the opportunity to move their Sunday Blues Jam to the Old Hat. They did and I followed.

The band went on to become a staple of the Old Hat culture they assumed the name The Cats in the Hat, going through several iterations, and playing to this day. C. Buggs went through a long stint as bartender at the Old Hat. I became Mug Club member # 157 and still am a “regular” at the brewery. I have formed my own blues bands over the last 8 years and played many times on their hardwood floors.

It was 1999 whenI got indoctrinated to the Old Hat culture. Since, I spent many nights at the Old Hat, late nights discussing music with C. buggs as he tended bar and our work on recording his bands. Many Wednesday Mug Club nights, Sunday Blues Jams, Thursdays cause there was nothing else to do and I didn’t want to sit home and watch TV. I met most of my present day friends at the Hat, people I feel deeply about. Friends I love dearly… Friends that have changed my life.

Now you know how we got to where we are. The Old Hat in general and how I fit in. In the next blog in this series I’ll talk about the social culture, why I think it is unique and some of those quirks that I think make it special.

I would invite anyone reading this to comment on their perspective. Many will see even the history I outlined above from a different view point, and may have a totally different recollection. I would like to hear from you, so please comment! Until next time.

Microe