Brew Con World Series V

[MickDundee]

Strange that I seem to be the only one that has had a score for that table - hopefully it's just a case of it being done in waves rather than anything more sinister. I have been quite vocal on their social media pages about the slow turnaround / constant lying about when results would be posted so I hope it's not just an attempt to shut me up...

I’m not even really bothered now.

My beer is finished so nothing to compare feedback sheet to, had good feedback on it from my brew club, I don’t really have anything else to gain from it.

Lesson learned and I won’t enter next year. A visit to the convention is no longer on my list of possible weekends away for my 40th in 2024 either.

 

[Stu's Brews]

I’m not even really bothered now.

My beer is finished so nothing to compare feedback sheet to, had good feedback on it from my brew club, I don’t really have anything else to gain from it.

Lesson learned and I won’t enter next year or ever attend the Convention part of the weekend as a result of this experience either.

I've long finished the keg so won't have anything to compare the feedback against but would be nice to have it anyway.

I'd not actually been all that bothered about getting it until now as I wasn't expecting much from this beer, however, I wasn't prepared to let the organiser get away with constantly lying about posting the results. I've already made the point to them that several people (myself included) won't enter again as a direct result of their behaviour.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Well I think this thread has put off anyone who was even thinking of entering/going to brewcon next year!

 

[Catching Swans]

My score of 36 for my American IPA has been posted, but still no feedback sheet.

 

[Maldon john]

Has any of the winners had their prizes yet?

No

 

[AJA]

I didn't enter this year, but I did attend Brewcon and thought it was a great event. Will still attend next year, but not enter the competition, obvs.

 

[Broken Toe]

I think I'll still enter. Looks like I have a good shot at it next year with everyone pulling out.

 

[Stu's Brews]

So I finally have a feedback sheet for my American IPA and like @dave_77 and @MickDundee commented earlier I am highly sceptical that it is the real sheet. More likely an attempt to shut me up on Twitter.

Only one has been provided (via DM) and it has been filled out by the organiser. The description doesn't match the beer I sent either.

I bottled and sent in for the forum monthly comp at the same time, this is from Hoddy:

According to my feedback sheet, the beer was a 'light gold colour' with a 'bright white head' and had 'good retention'. Nothing like the above picture, which is definitely representative of the colour I had out of the keg. I also had issues with my counter pressure filler at that time which caused the rather flat appearance in the photo. Possible that was a particularly bad bottle but from memory all four were problematic to fill.

I personally don't think that beer deserved to score 37. Certainly not in the condition I sent it in.

 

[MickDundee]

So I finally have a feedback sheet for my American IPA and like @dave_77 and @MickDundee commented earlier I am highly sceptical that it is the real sheet. More likely an attempt to shut me up on Twitter.

Only one has been provided (via DM) and it has been filled out by the organiser. The description doesn't match the beer I sent either.

I bottled and sent in for the forum monthly comp at the same time, this is from Hoddy:
View attachment 80231

According to my feedback sheet, the beer was a 'light gold colour' with a 'bright white head' and had 'good retention'. Nothing like the above picture, which is definitely representative of the colour I had out of the keg. I also had issues with my counter pressure filler at that time which caused the rather flat appearance in the photo. Possible that was a particularly bad bottle but from memory all four were problematic to fill.

I personally don't think that beer deserved to score 37. Certainly not in the condition I sent it in.

I still don’t have a score for mine.

But, yeah I still can’t get over the comment about my kellerbier being crystal clear. The whole reason I changed category from kolsch to kellerbier was because it was refusing to clear. One of my last bottles went to a friend who held onto it for a few weeks after the keg finished and it was still cloudy for him.

 

[Catching Swans]

So I finally have a feedback sheet for my American IPA and like @dave_77 and @MickDundee commented earlier I am highly sceptical that it is the real sheet. More likely an attempt to shut me up on Twitter.

Only one has been provided (via DM) and it has been filled out by the organiser. The description doesn't match the beer I sent either.

I bottled and sent in for the forum monthly comp at the same time, this is from Hoddy:
View attachment 80231

According to my feedback sheet, the beer was a 'light gold colour' with a 'bright white head' and had 'good retention'. Nothing like the above picture, which is definitely representative of the colour I had out of the keg. I also had issues with my counter pressure filler at that time which caused the rather flat appearance in the photo. Possible that was a particularly bad bottle but from memory all four were problematic to fill.

I personally don't think that beer deserved to score 37. Certainly not in the condition I sent it in.

Got mine too, but I reckon only because I've been e-mailing every week asking for a refund, all of which went unanswered.

I got a picture (not a scan) of a single feedback sheet judged by Simon Pipola, the event organiser. It was e-mailed directly to me and not uploaded to the website.

I have no doubt this isn't my actual feedback but I'm drawing a line under it now.

Definitely won't be entering next year!

 

[Leon103]

This just gets worse. 37 seems to be the standard score they are giving everyone, can't they just admit they lost the sheets.

 

[Stu's Brews]

This is the explanation on Twitter:

'we had a shortage of judges due to the train strikes so for four categories we used a quicker format to judge, with four qualified judges giving comments / a score on each beer. This is the standard format most commercial comps use. I then brought an extra bottle of each beer back to have at hand and sample whilst writing up scoresheets, which is why it’s taken a while. Both examples of your beer matched the comments on the scoresheet.'

So there we have it, the feedback for at least four tables is not the feedback from the people judging the beer at the event and may be from beer that has been sitting around for a few months.

The organiser has been getting pissed with our beers and has now closed the thread on Twitter so people can't publically criticise anymore.

 

[YeastFace]

You can quote tweet the last reply if you want to continue the conversation.

 

[Stu's Brews]

You can quote tweet the last reply if you want to continue the conversation.

Now that we've (mostly) got to the bottom of the whole debacle I'll probably leave it there anyway, as much for my sanity if anything else.

Definitely won't be entering again as there's little point if you can't trust the feedback you'll get. Even if you win it seems you may never actually receive the prize for it based on what others have said.

 

[dave_77]

I haven't chased my amber feedback and I won't be..seems little point. Shame as my first experience of the comp prior to COVID was good..I new my scores before I left the after party from memory and had the score sheets in the following week.

 

[Stu's Brews]

I can sympathize with the problems thrown up by the train strikes (I didn't attend for that very reason) but not being honest and transparent about what has been going on is simply unacceptable. A real shame as it has the potential to be a very good competition with it being attached to the event itself. Just needs better organisation.

 

[samale]

Is beer competition's regulated, it looks like they have caused severe damage to their reputation.

 

[Stu's Brews]

Is beer competition's regulated, it looks like they have caused severe damage to their reputation.

It's sanctioned by the BJCP so is supposed to be run according to their rules: Rules & Regulations – Beer Judge Certification Program

 

[Andyroo Brew]

Still no score and it doesn’t take that long to email a standard response.For all I know they’ve had at least four free beers at my expense. Won’t enter again!

 

[sonic61]

I eventually got my scoresheets just before Christmas. Both beers judged by the organiser with complete garbage comments and very low scores compared to the exact same beers in previous competitions, including BrewCon. I have absolutely no idea why the organiser would choose to try to be so underhand about all this and in my opinion, it just shows a total lack of respect for the homebrewing community in the UK.

At the end of the day, I suppose he's only really interested in promoting his bottleshop these days: Here's a Quote on Facebook about the prizes - "Matt and Dan will be flying down to Falmouth courtesy of LAUTER Bottleshop + Brewspace for a Brewday with Pipelinebrewco + a very beery weekend around Cornwall". Not, "Matt and Dan will be flying down to Falmouth courtesy of Brewcon...." Tells you all you need to know about the self-promotion with this guy really.