source: Wikimedia

On our last visit to Prescott we strolled into Matt’s Saloon on Whiskey Row on a late afternoon. We sidled up to the bar and ordered a couple of beers. A few minutes later, an older (as in septuagenarian) couple in jeans and tee shirts sat down next to us and called the bartender over. It was clear they were regulars. After greetings and personal updates, the husband went off to the restroom and the lady said “Get us our usual”.

The bartender brought her a highball glass filled with ice and a clear amber liquid.

“You know what this is?”

Yep, she was talking to us. We said no.

Author’s photo

“This is Old Overholt. We call it ‘Old Overcoat’. This is Doc Holliday’s favorite drink.”

Even my better half, who has spent more time on barstools than I have, hadn’t heard of it. The whiff of history and the need to be “in the know” hooked us. We had the bartender bring us over the bottle.

Doc Holliday? We were a few doors down from the Palace where he and his cronies played cards.  We were walking in his shadow; we might as well drink in it. So we ordered shooters to go with the beer. We liked it. I won’t bore you with the whiskey review–and yes this is whiskEy since it’s made in the USA.

By this time the lady’s husband was back and we got acquainted. Like many locals, they had moved up to Prescott from the valley, aka Phoenix, several years earlier. And everything they said about this Kentucky rye whiskey checked out:

It’s cheap, she said.

Less than a double sawbuck, check.

It’s been around a long time.

Since 1810, check

It’s nicknamed Old Overcoat. 

In the Terry Pratchett novels, check. (According to Wikipedia–I have not read the novels.)

It’s good.

Not as smooth as Jack Daniels Single Barrel, but not bad, and with a lot more fun western history attached.