Emerald Coast Homebrewers Organization

05/24/2026

🍻 ECHO Brewing Tip from May's General Meeting! 🍻

Shoutout to Tim Whaler, co-owner of History Class, El Weirdo and Hereos, for dropping some great knowledge at our last meeting! If you’re looking to experiment with sour beers, he recommended Lallemand Sourvisiae — a yeast that lets you sour right during primary fermentation. 🙌

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/lallemand-lalbrew-sourvisiae-yeast?srsltid=AfmBOorzK1aRXeUCgh8kNAUSFcL6ZQRQT8zCzsAn3mmovcs3GAxrpzfQ

No separate souring step needed—this yeast handles both fermentation and lactic acid production, making the process a lot more straightforward for anyone wanting to dip their toes into sour brewing.

If you’ve tried it (or plan to), let’s hear how it goes! Always cool to see what everyone’s brewing. 🍺👀

Brewer’s Yeast for souring during primary fermentation. Sourvisiae is a bioengineered ale yeast strain (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) capable of producing lactic acid during fermentation. Sourvisiae contains a single genetic modification, a lactate dehydrogenase gene from a food microorganism, which e...

04/24/2026

🍻 History, Beer, and Great Company! 🍻

We had such a fun and educational evening at the History Class 101 Beer Tasting on Wednesday, April 22, 2026! Huge shout‑out to Fontella, who was absolutely hilarious, incredibly knowledgeable, and we learned she’s Cicerone Certified👏 — who knew?!

During the class, we sampled four different beer styles:
Blonde Ale
Irish Red Ale
NE IPA
Imperial Nitro Stout

We learned how to really taste beer by understanding both qualitative and quantitative properties.
➡️ Qualitative = your personal opinion (unique to you!)
➡️ Quantitative = characteristics created by the grains, hops, and adjuncts

We also dove into the four components of beer:
💧 Water | 🌾 Malt | 🌿 Hops | 🧫 Yeast

During the tasting, we explored:
Color (using the SRM Scale)
Clarity
Aromas & Flavors
Bitterness (IBUs — and fun fact: History Class doesn’t list IBUs because they aren’t always an accurate indicator of perceived bitterness for certain styles!)
Mouth Feel

And we even got a little history lesson behind some of the beer names:
🍺 Belle Booth – named after Panama City’s first postmaster
🍺 No Troubles – a euphemism for “no problems” during Ireland’s 30‑year conflict
🍺 Val Valentine – the creative force behind many attractions along Florida’s “Miracle Strip”
🍺 Sir Loin – once a Viking statue, later King Neptune, and at one time the largest statue in Florida

On top of all that, we met a great couple and even ran into Ray, one of the best (and OG!) bartenders at History Class 🍻

Great beer, great stories, and even better company!

04/19/2026

Y’all… when we say SGI Brew Fest was a blast, that’s honestly an understatement! This brewfest was beyond fun! 🍻

So many awesome breweries, and we met a ton of great people along the way. Finally got to meet TLH Beer Fest Committee Member and OG home brewer Tim Rach—such a cool moment!

And let’s be real… Kaiser absolutely stole the show 🐾. He was living his best life getting spoiled by vendors with attention, water, treats, and plenty of shade.

We wrapped up the day the right way with a stop at High Five Dive Bar in Apalachicola. Couldn’t have asked for a better day with the crew!

04/18/2026

04/18/2026

SGI Beer Fest weekend kickoff:

🏕️ Set up camp at Coastline RV Park

🍤 Lunch at Half Shell Dockside with margaritas and a Hazy Bay IPA

🍻“Just one drink” at High Five Dive Bar that turned into a Blue Steel Blueberry Lemonade Sour and a Holy Roller Hazy IPA

We’re warmed up! We’re hydrated-ish! We’re ready!

04/17/2026

🍻 Great ECHO General Meeting last night! 🍻

👏 Thank you to El Weirdo for hosting and to everyone who came out.

Nights like these show what the is all about — good people, good talks, and seriously good beer!