I've competed with several brews and received a medal once but get consistent good scores.
The last 2 comps though, no medals at all with what I truly thought were quality beers. I'm bummed and just wanted to vent I guess. Score sheets haven't been sent back yet so I don't know what happened. Either the competition out there is great or I'm going backwards. But I believe my beers have gotten better with my increased knowledge from this site.
Just want to be cheered up.
Anybody else down on comps?
See what the feedback has to say before you get too down on yourself. It's possible that the flights that your entries were in were larger and competitive, and even a good score isn't always enough to place. Also consider the regional differences if you're submitting entries to non-local competitions. Take the feedback constructively and try to build on it. It could be something as simple as the recipe not being "good enough" and not necessarily the fault of the brewer. Don't give up though.
I like to brew mostly to style and try to enter every other beer into a local or state wide competition. I like the feedback and the ribbons are a nice validation. Still, I don't always have entries that will place or score well. I had a competition earlier in the year where I entered 3 beers, all 3 scored in the 40's, and all three won their category. Those same three beers scored in the mid-20's for the NHC competition. Once you ship that entry off, it's completely out of your hands. Its up to the competition to store it correctly and present it at a correct temperature to the judges. Hopefully the competition didn't overwhelm the judges with huge flights so that they can really focus on a small sub-set of beers in front of them.
Save your beer and entry fees. Awards don't mean squat. If you want to get revenge on the contests I suggest buying a commercial craft brew. Scrape the label. Use sandpaper to remove any labels on the bottle cap...
Let's see what kind of comments the judges will make against well established pro breweries.
The finest breweries of Germany and Belgium don't need stupid medals to be legendary. They simply are.
Don't get too upset. The BJCP and the folks who run it are class act jerks. They simply want to make money. It's a stupid protocol if you are entering a competition with BJCP rules you might as well send em a bottle of budweiser for the lager category because it fits all the style guidelines.
Seriously, friends don't let friends BJCP...You can have all the taste in the world but if your beer is a shade darker or lighter, it will be inferior in some way.
Wow.
I didn't realize I had joined the Illuminati when I joined the BJCP. Most of the BJCP people that I've met and judged with (ok, all of them) are knowledgeable and friendly folks who are looking to help and give back a bit to the brewing community. There is nothing dark or sinister to it. We're not paid, although maybe we should be. A couple weeks ago I got at up 0530 and drove 1.5 hours to judge without any financial reimbursement or incentives beyond a free lunch. This is fairly common for BJCP judges to do.
If you're looking for "revenge" on a competition then it sounds like perhaps you got your feelings hurt in a competition. Most homebrewers, especially early in the hobby, are guilty of what I call "ugly baby syndrome". You think your beer is the best, it's great, but really it's laden with off-flavors and it hurts when that gets pointed out to you when you enter a competition. There are two ways to deal with that. You can take the criticism constructively, build upon it, re-enter, score better, and possibly take home a ribbon, or you can cry about it. You seem like you're in the later group.
If you don't like that your entry is judged to style then perhaps you should stick to competitions that are completely subjective. There are plenty of those where the crowd picks the winner. There are also plenty of examples where an entrant will pack the crowd with his friends and supporters to win "people's choice". The BJCP isn't perfect but it's certainly better than any other alternative out there.