Given the similarity of release time, style, and even real we #, I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed before. Which one did you like best? I personally thought they were both awesome, but would give the edge to Karbach. Admittedly I'm a big whiskey fan so the fact that the bourbon was strong and the "quad" flavor was muted didn't bother me much. St Arnold's started awesome but by the end I thought the sweetness took over a little. Either way, love both beers, just curious what others thought.
I think Bishop's Barrel 13 is far superior. The base style actually comes through much more. It is really more of a Barrel Aged Quad with layers of barrel character, caramelized sugar, dark fruits, banana esters and baked bread. FUN 13 seems more like a generic barrel aged American Strong Ale that is just sweet, lightly fruity and a bourbon, vanilla, wood bomb. Which is not bad at all, but not really what I am thinking of with a Quad.
Karbach is without a doubt my favorite Houston brewery. I get down with the clown and the new stout and pils are game changers, but I do believe SA has a better barrel program in general.
I was going to write a response, but this is exactly what I would have wanted to say. So, yeah. What @champ103 said.
While I enjoyed both, I'm going to side with Karbach, there's just a bit more depth, barrel and complexity. BB13 is just a little too thin and cloying, although this is really splitting hairs. Both are great bba quads.
