Old Forester Fridays – The Statesman & The Cowboy: Style Over Substance?

This week on Old Forester Fridays, we take on a battle of bourbon identities: the sharply dressed, cinematic smooth-talker versus the rugged, smoke-slinging ranch hand. In one corner, it’s Old Forester Statesman, a 95-proof bourbon dressed to the nines in sleek branding and backed by a movie franchise. In the other, it’s Old Forester King Ranch Edition, a bolder, 105-proof Texas collaboration that swaps out polish for mesquite smoke and leather-wrapped bravado.

Both bottles carry the Old Forester name, both sit at the higher end of your bourbon shelf—and both lean hard into marketing, image, and storytelling. But do either of them actually deliver on flavor? Or are we just paying for the label?

Join Heather and B as they dig into the mash bills, barrel treatments, branding choices, and of course—the taste. With Heather playing fashion critic and B playing rodeo clown, this episode asks the big question: is there any real substance under all that style?

If you’ve ever picked up a bottle because it looked cool or had a story, this is the episode for you.