Deep in South Texas, where the horizon seems to stretch forever and the wind still carries the dust of cattle drives, sits the 825,000-acre King Ranch. For more than 170 years it has stood as the unbreakable backbone of American ranching. Six hours north, in a quiet Louisville warehouse, another American institution has been making whiskey the same way since 1870—Old Forester, the only bourbon brand that never stopped bottling through Prohibition, still owned by the same family that started it.
Every year since 2022 these two legends have come together for one special bottle. The 2025 Old Forester King Ranch Edition, the fourth in the series, just hit shelves across Texas, and it might be the best one yet.
Walk into any good liquor store in the Lone Star State right now and you’ll spot the new label right away. Staring back at you is Peppy San Badger—better known to cutting horse people as “Little Peppy.” This stout quarter horse stallion, with his blaze face and stockings, changed the cutting world forever in the 1970s and 1980s. Standing next to him in the artwork is the man who rode him to glory: Buster Welch, the soft-spoken Texan who trained five NCHA Futurity champions and became the quiet hero every cowboy wants to shake hands with at least once.
The horse and the man on the bottle aren’t just pretty pictures. They represent the same grit and precision Old Forester looks for when it picks barrels for this release.
What goes inside the bottle is different from any other Old Forester you’ve poured. The distillers start with their classic high-rye mash bill, age it in heavily charred new American oak, then finish the whiskey by filtering it through charcoal made from King Ranch mesquite. That extra step pulls out some harsh edges and adds a layer of South Texas campfire smoke you can’t get anywhere else. The result comes out at a solid 105 proof—strong enough to stand up in a Glencairn but smooth enough to sip beside a campfire without coughing.
On the nose you catch dark cherry, vanilla, and a little leather right off the bat. Take a sip and the mesquite shows up—dry woodsmoke, black pepper, some baking spices, and a touch of orange peel that keeps everything lively. The finish is long, warm, and leaves you with oak and a faint sweetness that makes you reach for the glass again.
Only Texas gets this bottle. Old Forester keeps the run small on purpose. Once the allocated stores sell out, that’s it until next year. If you’re the kind of man who still believes some things are worth hunting down, this is one of them.
There’s something bigger at play here than just another limited-edition bourbon. Two family-owned American companies—one started by a pharmacist in Kentucky who refused to sell doctored whiskey, the other built by a steamboat captain who turned empty South Texas brush into the largest ranch in the world—decided the best way to honor hard work and tradition was to shake hands and make something neither could do alone.
George Garvin Brown sealed his first bottles in 1870 and signed every one by hand because he wanted customers to know exactly what they were buying. Captain Richard King bought his first parcel of land in 1853 with nothing but a dream and a stubborn streak. A century and a half later their descendants are still running the show, still refusing to cut corners.
That’s why the King Ranch Edition matters. In a world full of quick flips and celebrity labels, here’s a bottle that reminds you some things actually get better when people take their time and do them right.
If you’re anywhere in Texas and you see that 2025 label with Peppy San Badger and Buster Welch looking back at you, grab it. Pour a dram neat, maybe raise a quiet toast to the men and horses that built this country, and let that mesquite smoke carry you back to a time when a handshake and a man’s word still meant everything.
Because some legends don’t need hype. They just need to be opened, poured, and appreciated by the people who understand what real legacy tastes like.
