One of the most common and popular beers in the world is a lager. However, the yeast used to create those iced cold Budweiser and Red Stripe beers are made from a hybrid lager yeast.
Half of the yeast genes is ale and the other half is actually from unknown species. What exactly are we drinking?
Scientists have been trying to crack the origins of this yeast for years. Luckily in 2011, while roaming the jungles of Patagonia, scientist, Diego Libkind, has come across something out of the ordinary. Libkind has stepped on a fungus on his trails in the jungle and noticed it’s the very familiar scent. In fact, that day he has discovered one the most important details of beer brewing. After all of the lab work and sequencing the genes, he realized this was the unknown species found in the yeast.
Researchers published this discovery in the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Shortly after, these findings caught the eye of Heineken’s Global Craft and Brew Master, Willem van Waesberghe. Soon after much hard work and research, Heineken has created a beer using this yeast called Saccharomyces eubayanus and ending up naming their new beer, H41. They are officially the first company to put beer on the market using this yeast.