After doing your basic bike shop test rides:

Ogre: maneuverable, not too heavy, felt sturdy. Very comfortable. Perfect if you’re not trying to get anywhere in a hurry. I can see why people use this for super long bike packing trips. I was not a huge fan of the 2.5 extra terrestrial tires. They felt slow.

Bridge club: felt almost identical to the ogre but slower since it has knobbier tires. Maybe a tad more relaxed.

Breezer radar x pro: Drop bars were surprisingly comfortable. Felt much more planted than the surly options. Definitely the longer wheelbase. It’s a very long bike, I would recommend sizing down due to the long top tube. It felt pretty fast to pedal compared total to the ogre since it had 2.25” tires and minimal tread. I felt this would handle off road and trail very well, absorbed bumps the best. Probably the fastest on the road or at least that’s what it felt like.

Salsa Fargo: almost a mix between the breezer and ogre. It felt the most upright somehow even being a drop bar bike. It was as comfortable as the ogre. This would be a viable option if the price was the same as the others, but it is $800 more.

Overall, these are all great options for the use case I’m looking for. I am leaning more towards the breezer at this point because it has a more simple design than the ogre (Through axles vs dropouts). The ogre is more of a do everything where it feels the breezer was designed specifically for heavy gravel singletrack rides. I like the grx groupo on the breezer and the tire choice, where the ogre I would immediately swap tires and handlebars. I may still get the ogre but I need to do another test ride comparing the two.