If Peter W. Busch had his way, he’d celebrate Christmas all year long. “It’s my favorite holiday,” muses the great-grandson of Adolphus Busch, founder of Anheuser-Busch. And it’s no wonder! For Busch and his longtime fiancée, Ashley Albers, fond memories of Christmases spent in their mutual hometown of St. Louis influence present-day celebrations at their waterfront Moorings home with Busch’s six children, 10 grandchildren, and the couple’s wide circle of friends.
Grant’s Farm, the 273-acre ancestral St. Louis estate where Peter Busch spent his youth, was a resplendent setting for frequent Busch family celebrations, including Christmas. “My uncle would dress up like Santa and carry a 40-to-50-pound sack about a half mile all the way up to the main house,” recalls Busch “He would hand out nuts, fruit, and chocolate, since we were half Swiss, and talk to us about whether we were good or bad. When we celebrated at the ranch in Montana, we’d have 20 or 30 carolers under the porte-cochere because there were too many to come into the house. We’d be outside wrapped in blankets as the snow fell.” Add in a few of the family’s famous Clydesdales and it’s hard to imagine a more picture-perfect holiday!
Albers’ recollections of her own childhood Christmases spent at her family’s farm are equally warm and fuzzy. “My Dad had me so convinced there was nothing more for me, and then around 4 o’clock in the afternoon he’d say, ‘Let’s go walk up to the barn.’ There I’d find a horse or a dog with a big red bow around its neck!”
Keeping traditions alive for future generations is paramount to the couple’s annual Christmas celebration in Vero Beach. Decorating usually begins November 1, according to Albers, the day after their yearly Halloween birthday bash for one of the grandchildren. With help from her assistants, Jade and Nadine, she layers the neutral palette of their South African–inspired home with colors and accents that blend from room to room and evolve from year to year.
“Peter associates red with Christmas, so the living room, where we gather, tends to be the red room,” says Albers. “Otherwise, each room is a different color than the year before.” This year, the dining room is decked in gold, cream, and silver. That color scheme is carried into the foyer, where a 9-foot-tall chandelier, fashioned from leather strips by an Indigenous African tribe, takes center stage.
Eleven distinctly embellished trees and treasured pieces from
the past and present are juxtaposed with accessories, lighting, and mirrors incorporating raw and exotic materials such as cow horns, porcupine quills, and grasses. A circa-1948 copy of The Night Before Christmas (given to every Anheuser-Busch employee) rests atop an African seagrass rope table. Reindeer throws add winter coziness to comfortable seating areas.
The 12-foot-tall kitchen cabinets, crafted from recycled white oak, hold Busch family keepsakes such as Swarovski crystal Budweiser glasses, silver pieces from Grant’s Farm and Anheuser-Busch, prized German steins, and other Anheuser-Busch memorabilia. On the kitchen island, a festive flower arrangement is illuminated by a chandelier crafted with coconut beads by an Indigenous African tribe.
Cardinals are also an ever-present theme, representing cherished memories of Busch’s father, August (Gussie) Busch Jr., who bought the St. Louis Cardinals in 1953 and led the team to five World Series championships.
These days, just like in past Busch family Christmas celebrations, the festivities begin when carolers arrive on the doorstep of the couple’s home. Everyone joins in, says Busch, “including my two youngest grandsons, ages 3 and 5, who sing solos. That’s what’s cool for me. They won’t forget that; and hopefully, they will do the same for their own families one day. If I hadn’t had that growing up, I wouldn’t be doing it for my kids and grandkids.”
Following the caroling, as tradition goes, “Peter ushers everyone outside to look at the North Star, and then Santa magically appears with Mrs. Claus,” explains Albers. “They open their bag of goodies and call out each grandchild and parent by name.”
This year, the couple has added three Clydesdales to the two they already have. “We usually house some of them on my daughter’s farm,” says Busch, adding that they routinely hitch them up to a wagon and drive them down 4th Street to The Trading Post on 43rd Avenue, where they buy Budweiser (of course)! “You’d think people would get mad because they have to slow down; but they just pull over and take photos.”
The whole point, both Busch and Albers agree, is to bring joy to others—something that is ingrained in the Busch family legacy and has been carried on by Peter and his family since he moved to the Treasure Coast 40 years ago. “I was 28 when I was offered the opportunity to take over the ownership and operation of a beer distributor in Fort Pierce,” he explains. “I had been working for the brewery in St. Louis at the lowest level for six years.”
At the time, Southern Eagle Distributing had only 18 employees and operated out of a small warehouse. “It was a big culture change,” he admits, noting that the town was in the middle of nowhere at the time. Today, the company boasts 315 employees and over 130,000 square feet of warehouse and office space, and it distributes more than 9 million cases of beer, spirits, wine, and nonalcoholic beverages annually throughout St. Lucie, Indian River, Martin, Palm Beach, and Hendry Counties. It is also a model of corporate giving and community support.
Over the years, Southern Eagle’s financial and product donations have supported dozens of causes, including urban restoration, health care, community projects, animal rehabilitation, and efforts to combat child abuse and homelessness. Employees routinely volunteer their time and talents with beach and park cleanups, fundraising, and toy drives.
“Early on,” says Busch, “when Fort Pierce didn’t have Fourth of July fireworks, we brought a barge to the middle of the Indian River Lagoon and hired a fireworks operator so that people could watch the show from the bridge.”
“We’ve also fed a lot of people,” he notes, explaining that, for 14 years, Busch family members and Southern Eagle employees enthusiastically rolled up their sleeves to prepare and serve meals to upwards of 5,000 people at an annual Thanksgiving Jubilee in St. Lucie County.
“After last year’s tornados, we personally set up, cooked, and served the first hot meal to residents of Lakewood Park,” adds Albers. “We brought in air-conditioned tents and a DJ and served about 600 meals just to show we care. So much of what we do revolves around our employees. They love it as much as we do.”
“My father always said, ‘Give back to the community that gives to you,’” says Busch. And when it came to selling beer, “Dad vowed he could only succeed by following the motto ‘Making friends is our business.’ He even wrote a book with that title, and it’s something my siblings and I have followed in our own ways all our lives.”
Peter created the Busch Family Foundation in 1993 to further support, enrich, and enhance the community in which he built his business. The foundation backs initiatives that improve the quality of health, education, and family life in local communities as well as the preservation of Florida’s native animals and landscape. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the foundation’s fundraisers, which have included the Busch Rodeo and Concert and the Wild Game Dinner, directly benefit the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, the Navy SEAL Museum, United Against Poverty, the Boys & Girls Clubs, Operation Dream, and many other organizations.
“Our family has always supported conservation,” says Busch, who chairs the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary’s board of directors and was recently awarded the 2025 National Lewis & Clark Conservation Award. Located in Jupiter, the sanctuary recently completed an $18 million expansion and renovation to house the growing number of animals under its care. According to Albers, who is also an executive board member, the sanctuary rescues nearly 6,000 sick, injured, or orphaned native Florida animals each year with the goal of rehabilitating and releasing them to their natural habitats. In addition to welcoming more than 200,000 visitors annually, sanctuary staff members visit schools and other community organizations to educate the public about animals and the importance of wildlife conservation.
At Grant’s Farm—which is now a major St. Louis tourist destination, animal refuge, and home to the famous Clydesdales—Busch and Albers are also carrying on the family tradition of rescuing wild mustangs. This year, they expanded their advocacy for wild horses by teaming up with a local filmmaker to produce Wild Within, a soon-to-be-released documentary featuring Gabriel, an adopted mustang who happily resides at Grant’s Farm.
“We’ve been blessed to have the life we’ve had,” reflects Busch. “And I’m super happy about the way it all turned out. Even though 40 years ago I was scratching my head saying, ‘What am I doing in Fort Pierce, Florida?,’ now, I’m glad we stuck it out.”
And so are we!
True Tails is a series written by Amy Robinson for Vero Beach’s dog lovers. Ask Amy about your dog’s behavior by clicking below.
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