East Coast-West Coast Brew Off WTF?!?!?!

[Airborneguy]

CANCELLED?!?!?!

Anyone else enter this competition? It was scheduled for this coming weekend. They required 3 12oz bottles to be sent to them and a $5 entry fee. I sent my entry and a friend's, which cost me $12 on top of packaging and the loss of the beer (insignificant? Screw you I didn't brew it for these dudes).

Well I get an email today refunding my $5 with an apology, but what about my beer, my time, my shipping... And the excuse is they cancelled it because of the holiday? Well I know the pilgrims surprised us with this BRAND NEW Thanksgiving holiday and all, but... WTF kind of excuse is this? I'm EXTREMELY pissed right now if you can't tell .

I realize that there's no options here but I'm heated that some dude in Maryland has hundreds of beers, including mine, that he just got shipped to him for free.

Is there a way to complain to the BJCP about this? Maybe take away their ability to have a sanctioned comp in the future?

West Coast Vs East Coast Organized By Ocean City Maryland Home Brew Club (ocmhbc) > West Coast Vs East Coast Entry Info

 

[MalFet]

That's weird. Since the beer is there, why don't they just run the competition next weekend? Write to the guy and tell him you want a refund on your shipping costs, just to see what happens.

 

[bob1852]

Yeah I'd let AHA know...

Then again, it was probably cancelled because they tasted one west coast beer and realized the easr coast beers wouldn't stand a chance.

 

[two_hearted]

Lame. That a load of bs.

 

[PantherCity]

I would be super pissed as well.

I suggest you give them as much hell as you have the time and inclination for.

 

[motobrewer]

And the excuse is they cancelled it because of the holiday? Well I know the pilgrims surprised us with this BRAND NEW Thanksgiving holiday and all, but... WTF kind of excuse is this? I'm EXTREMELY pissed right now if you can't tell .

lol

i'd be heated too. first at the requirement of 3 12-ozers....wtf for??

definitely convey the stupidity to the AHA

 

[richkev]

An interesting way to get some beer. I wonder how many people sent in samples? Hmmm...

 

[Airborneguy]

I'm weighing what to do right now. I'm definitely going to email the organizer asking for a better explanation. After that, I'm going to email some of the sponsors and the AHA and BJCP. This was a very serious mistake on their part even if it was an "honest" mistake. You don't solicit entries before knowing that the structure for the competition is in place.

 

[dlittle29]

I entered the competition as well and was pissed when I found out it was canceled. I live in MD where it was taking place so I got a little inside scoop from my LHBS. Apparently the organizer and the brewery that was staging the competition had a bit of a falling out and so the organizer canceled the competition. Shame on both of them for pulling this **** at the last second!

 

[Airborneguy]

Email sent:

Art,

As I am sure you understand, I'm very perplexed and quite frankly, mad about this cancellation.

The entry fee of $5 is nothing compared to the time and effort to produce the beer, the packaging and shipping and the time involved in that process, and just knowing that my beer is now free for someone to drink which wasn't the intended goal of my shipment.

The Thanksgiving holiday is obviously something to be expected long in advance, and failing to have an adequate number of judges in place before soliciting entries is completely unacceptable.

I would like to pay for the shipping to have mine and my friend's entry returned to us. I know that sounds silly, but I am truly angry thinking about my beer being given away for "free" under circumstances under which I would not have normally given up there beer.

You response is appreciated. I would rather avoid having to contact the AHA to voice my displeasure over this unacceptable situation.

Sincerely,

"Airborneguy"

 

[Airborneguy]

Apparently the organizer and the brewery that was staging the competition had a bit of a falling out and so the organizer canceled the competition. Shame on both of them for pulling this **** at the last second!

Now I am even more pissed. If this is the real reason, that's TOTALLY unacceptable.

I'm really wondering how willing to get involved the AHA would be. Hopefully I can get this club's sanction revoked or something. They should not be allowed to have organize a competition in the future.

 

[Airborneguy]

dlittle, apparently these guys were a sponsor. Are they good guys or should I hassle them about this too?

Maryland Homebrew

Here's the club's website:

http://home.comcast.net/~sunflowerb...s/&PHPSESSID=653ea1ae9aa0855a9ff7cd96efade24f

 

[Homercidal]

Wow, they could have at least used a little bit of keg lube...

 

[dlittle29]

Airborneguy,

Maryland Homebrew is my LHBS, litterally right across the street from me. They sponsored but had nothing to do with the cancelation. They are a great store with helpful and friendly staff.

 

[Homercidal]

Put on by the Ocean City Maryland Homebrew Club?

 

[Airborneguy]

Just sent this email to the AHA. I sent it to the events coordinator and Gary Glass:


Cheers!

I hope I'm sending this email to the correct people. I just recieved word that an AHA competition which I entered had been suddenly cancelled. I'm referring to the West Coast vs. East Coast Brew Off which was being held by the Ocean City Maryland Homebrew Club.

This competition required 3, 12oz bottles for each entry, and in my case, required me to ship to the competition organizers. As I'm sure you realize, this doesn't cost a bank-breaking amount of money, but certainly enough to make me take notice when I find out it was all for naught.

The excuse offerred by the organizer was that he could not arrange for an adequate number of judges to attend due to the thanksgiving Holiday weekend. I do not find this to be an adequate explanation being that the organizer chose the date of the event, and should have had these arrangements in place before soliciting entries, many of which would be shipped as mine were. While the organizer did refund the $5 entry fee, they are now in possession of a very likely large amount of homebrew which people like me believed would be judged as per BJCP guidelines, not enojoyed at unknown organizers' Thanksgiving dinner tables.

The intent of this email is to notify the AHA that they have sanctioned a competition (and thereby, the club organizing it), which has been run in a completely unacceptable, and possible even criminal manner. I would hope that the AHA would be interested in sanctioning this club in some way, so as to maintain the integrity of the AHA-sponsored homebrew competition circuit in this country. When I look to enter a competition, I always ensure that the AHA has sanctioned it so I can rest assured that I am entering a professionally organized and judged event. The situation at hand does not at all reflect the values of the AHA and our hobby in general.

Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you regarding this matter. In the least, I do not believe that this club should be able to in the future hold a competition which receives AHA support.

Sincerely,

"Airborneguy"
New Brighton Homebrew Society
Staten Island, NY

 

[Airborneguy]

Put on by the Ocean City Maryland Homebrew Club?

Yes

 

[Homercidal]

Sending a message to the AHA is probably a good idea, but don't you think you should have given the organizer a chance to respond to your email before sending it?

I know you're upset, and with good reason, but you did tell them you'd give them a chance to make things right before you contacting the AHA...

 

[usfmikeb]

Wow, that stinks...

 

[bigbeergeek]

Very, very disappointing situation -- unacceptable. You're doing the right thing. Even if you get your $12 back, the AHA still needs to know about this.

 

[Airborneguy]

I know you're upset, and with good reason, but you did tell them you'd give them a chance to make things right before you contacting the AHA...

Good point. I guess I was a little more upset than I realized.

 

[bigbeergeek]

Sending a message to the AHA is probably a good idea, but don't you think you should have given the organizer a chance to respond to your email before sending it?

I know you're upset, and with good reason, but you did tell them you'd give them a chance to make things right before you contacting the AHA...

Unless they make things right with every single entrant, the AHA needs to be informed, regardless of the wording of his email to the organizer.

 

[motobrewer]

Good point. I guess I was a little more upset than I realized.

i disagree.

The only way i WOULDN'T have notified the AHA immediately is if they originally said, "we f-ed up, here's your money and your beer back".

 

[usfmikeb]

Good point. I guess I was a little more upset than I realized.

You have a right to be. We all do this because we have a passion for this hobby, it's something we care about. Having someone screw around with something you care about is going to lead to discontent.

I wonder what criteria the AHA uses to sanction an event, perhaps there's an opportunity for them to improve upon that process.

 

[Homercidal]

They are in trouble now. They already refunded the entry fees, and can't ship beer back without paying a LOT of money. They look bad if they simply keep and drink the beer, and could possibly have their club affiliation revoked.

The best thing would have been to extend the judging day out until it could be done, and held the event anyway. But we don't know if any of the sponsors backed out, taking the winnings with them.

Whatever, the club needs to be honest and open with the information. There is nothing on their site indicating a problem with the competition at this point.

It's going to be bad for them if they stick their head in the sand on this.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Sent this just to see how'd they respond

Looking forward to seeing the results from this competition. There are rumors about it being cancelled after receiving contestants entries and costing them the money to ship their entries. All for the bogus reason of it being the Holidays. As if the Holidays weren't scheduled already when the event was.

I know this can't be true from a respectable AHA sanctioned Homebrew club.

 

[usfmikeb]

They are in trouble now. They already refunded the entry fees, and can't ship beer back without paying a LOT of money. They look bad if they simply keep and drink the beer, and could possibly have their club affiliation revoked.

The best thing would have been to extend the judging day out until it could be done, and held the event anyway. But we don't know if any of the sponsors backed out, taking the winnings with them.

Whatever, the club needs to be honest and open with the information. There is nothing on their site indicating a problem with the competition at this point.

It's going to be bad for them if they stick their head in the sand on this.

Absolutely agree, they should have taken action quickly here. If I'd been a member of the club, I'd have recommended postponing the competition, instead of just cancelling it. That would give them time to find new judges and sponsors.

In reality, there's no way they'll be able to refund postage to people, unless they find a sponsor to cover that expense.

 

[gingerdawg]

Would this be a beer Ponzi scheme or a beer Pyramid scheme.
I kinda like it.
Everyone on HBT send me 3 beers and I'll tell you how I liked em!!

 

[Airborneguy]

The plot thickens:

First of all we had enuff judges in place but with
5 .backing out at the last minute we had no choice .if you want your beer that's your right send a call tag ill make sure we don't judge it what judge it that's right being we don't have enuff aha approved judges we can't give out the aha award but can still give out all the medals and other prizes . That we had intended to give out ill what for you call tag ..

Art

I wrote back asking for complete clarification on what's going on. The refund email stated that the comp was totally cancelled, now he mentions judging. I'm suspicious that they are going to be doing some half-assed informal judging just to fulfill their requirements so no one goes down there and lynches them though. Either way, this whole thing stinks to high heaven.

 

[bigbeergeek]

What's with Art's inability to write a single intelligible sentence?