Brent Villareal of Houston told CultureMap that G & M Catering failed to deliver the beer, ice, food and staff the event needed, causing "direct damage to the quality of the event.”

Villareal and his partner, Greg Schoolfield were the men behind Saturday’s event, but claimed that G & M had full control over beer prices and what beers would be sold. Two of the complaints were that most beers cost $7 each and that there were much fewer than the promised 500-plus beers available.

Charles Wells is the president of G & M, which for six years has had an exclusive contract to sell all alcohol at The Travis County Exposition Center, where the Beer Fest took place. Wells is quick to point out that his business is accustomed to handling much bigger crowds than what Saturday brought.

"We have hosted such events as the Republic of Texas (ROT) Biker Rally, where more than 50,000 people attended. The Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo, where more than 150,000 people attended. And many more too numerous to mention, where we hosted more attendees than the Austin Beer Festival," Wells told CultureMap. He estimates the turnout on Saturday was around 14,000.

"We have never had any problems with the beer or food sales (at other events)," Wells said.

Wells insists that Villareal and Schoolfield were responsible for choosing the brands of beers at the festival, and that tents and equipment for dispensing the beer (also the responsibility of the Beer Fest organizers) were never delivered.

Many Beer Fest attendees complained that the six "tasting tickets" that came with the price of admission ($35 at the gate) were good for six small samples that more often than not were poured warm from a can or bottle. There was also confusion about what the orange tasting tickets were good for versus the $1 green tickets that had to be purchased to get food or full-pour beers.

The Austin Beer Fest website also had promised tasting tickets for $2 each, and some attendees said they were nowhere to be found.

"[Villareal and Schoolfield] purchased and provided the tasting cups, 2-ounce soufflé cups, which we felt were a bit small for tastings, or for our pouring abilities," Wells said. "And if G & M had known that the promoters advertised that you could purchase the taste tickets, don’t you think we would have been selling them at the same booths where we were selling the rest of the tickets?"

Wells also says that G and M had nothing to do with the parking confusion and took no portion of the $10 parking fee. He contends that Beer Fest organizers had two people scanning admission tickets for the 14,000 guests, which led to lengthy bottlenecks at the entrance.

For their part, Villareal and Schoolfield insist that things would have run more smoothly if they had been in charge of all aspects of the festival.

“If we had full control it wouldn't have gone the way that it did, from the pricing to the fact that not all the beer that was supposed to be there was out there,” Schoolfield said.

"With G & M retaining exclusive control over alcohol sales at the site, the festival organizers never could have made any money off it,” Schoolfield said. “We do all the work, and all [G & M] does is sign the checks.”

As of Wednesday, unhappy Beer Fest customers were getting refunds from Google Offers and Groupon for their tickets. Urban Dealight customers aren't reporting any such luck. The deal site offered admission for two for $29, and has issued a statement that reads (in part): "Shall you have concerns or requests for refunds, please contact the merchant as they may be able to provide you with some sort of reimbursement."