Question regarding a note from a LHBS contest

[dizzle]

I recently entered an IPA contest. I was told the judges were not BJCP judges, but one was a brewmaster for a local Brewpub and the other runs the LHBS. I was just looking for notes on my beer, so I wasn't concerned they weren't certified. This was my first all grain.

Recipe-
11 lbs. 2 row
1 lb. Crystal 20
1 oz. centennial at 60
1 oz. centennial at 30
1 oz centennial at 10
1 oz Citra at 0
Irish Moss at 15

Used WLP001. Made 2 liter starter. Mashed at 154, batched sparged. 60 minute boil.

The contest was poorly run, but I wasn't surprised that I didn't win. Again, I was just looking for notes. We were told that the notes were going to be sent to the contestants within a week, which became 3 weeks. When I finally got my email, I was told that my beer had an "odd shellfish" flavor. I checked all of the reference books I have and I could find no mention of shellfish as an off flavor, so I don't know what could have possibly caused it. I feel my sanitation is good, I cleaned and scrubbed the bottles with fragrance free Oxy clean, and rinsed them in the dishwasher and then sanitized with Star San. I drank the majority of the bottles (no more left! it was really good), and I never detected any off flavors. I also had several craft beer and homebrew friends try it and they gave nothing but positive reviews.

Is there anything with my recipe or process that stands out? I just find it (shell)fishy that the 4 bottles I gave to the contest were the only 4 in the entire batch that tasted like this. It seems more like laziness. I did email back but never got a response.

Sorry for the long post, but I know more info is better than less around here (and I'm probably still missing some).

 

[unionrdr]

Sounds more to me like they didn't have a friggin clue. They may well have turned it into a popularity contest. They had to tell you something,& pulled something out of their collective a$$es.

 

[BeardedIdiot]

I would guess that either they got your beer mixed up with someone elses and sent you the wrong notes, they don't remember so they made something up, or they didn't like the beer for whatever reason, but didn't really know how to describe why it didn't taste good to them.

I would move on and ignore what they said. If you liked it, and your friends liked it, with no signs of said "off flavor", I'd just assume the notes were wrong and maybe try a better organized competition.

 

[ludomonster]

You could ask for more feedback, but they'll probably just clam up.

 

[Nightshade]

You could ask for more feedback, but they'll probably just clam up.

I sea what you did there