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LOOK. I've been plenty down on Saint Arnold in the past. I'll even admit that I rarely choose to drink much of anything from their standard line of beers, with Endeavour being the obvious exception. But as of late, everything in their Icon series has been - for me - above average at the minimum & most have been really good. The Bishop's Barrel series has been excellent as well.
Say what you want, but they've won me back over with Icon, BB, and now the new Berliner Weisse as well. Haters gonna hate, man. WHATEVA.
I liked DR11 quite a bit and tried the first batch of Endeavor and did not like it. I have had a couple of the Icons and they were decent, but I still can't get over the aftertaste of their yeast which tastes like bad home brew. I am excited to try the Berliner but I have a feeling it will be the same result. I enjoyed BB4 a lot actually, but I think BBHF is better than BB1 and 3, and BB2 was awful. I haven't tried BB6 because I don't like Pumpkinator and because the distribution model for the BB series sucks.
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Oh.. And Karbach. For starters, nothing on their regular line does anything more for me than StA's does - and perhaps less. I don't care for Hopadillo, I think Sympathy is mediocre at very best, Weisse Versa is a nice intro craft beer sure but so is Lawnmower, Weekend Warrior is alright, and Endeavour blows Rodeo Clown out of the water. Mother in Lager I did indeed enjoy, but that's balanced out by Barn Burner which I do not think is a good beer and frankly had absolutely no business being barrel aged and turned into Roll in the Hay (that's a big miss, for me).
Hop Delusion was excellent when it was out & hopefully that's the case again soon. Bourbon Barrel Hellfighter is quite good as well.
But take the Icon series and the Bishop's Barrel series and stack those up against the FUN series? It's not even close, for me, but to each their own.
I could rant for a while about Karbach and will happily do so over a beer sometime.
I will admit that I am biased towards Karbach because my favorite style of beer far and away are IPAs, and Karbach loves their hops, but I think if you looked at a direct comparison of their regular and seasonal line ups (excluding DR, BB, and FUN) Karbach takes it. Sorry I had to force some comparisons but I tried to get them as close as I could
StA - Amber
Kar - Sympathy for the Lager
WINNER - Sympathy for the Lager
StA - Brown
Kar - Weisse Versa
WINNER - Weisse Versa only because Brown tastes like dirt to me
StA - Weedwacker
Kar - Barn Burner
WINNER - Weedwacker
StA - Lawnmower
Kar - Weekend Warrior
WINNER - I was looking for leftover year round offerings, and this is what was left. I like IPAs so Weekend Warrior
StA - Elissa
Kar - Hopadillo
WINNER - Hopadillo
StA - Santo
Kar - Mother in Lager????
WINNER - Forced matchup, but point Mother in Lager
StA - Endeavor
Kar - Rodeo Clown
WINNER - Rodeo Clown is more of a Barley Wine than a DIPA IMO and apparently I need to try Endeavor again. No winner.
StA - Spring Bock
Kar - Hop Delusion
WINNER - Hop Delusion
StA - Summer Pils
Kar - Love Street
WINNER - Summer Pils - I only had one Love Street and I don't remember it so point Summer Pils
StA - Oktoberfest
Kar - Karbachtoberfest
WINNER - Oktoberfest
StA - Christmas Ale
Kar - Yule Shoot Your Eye Out
WINNER - Yule Shoot Your Eye Out
StA - Winter Stout
Kar - Hellfighter
WINNER - Hellfighter
StA - Pumpkinator
Kar - Krunkin Pumpkin
WINNER - Krunkin Pumpkin
9-3-1 for Karbach in my opinion. If anyone has any comments on how to change the comparisons, I can change them and even create a survey if anyone else is interested.