Lager-brewing yeast was probably born twice

Discussion in 'Beer News' started by digitalflood, Aug 14, 2015.

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  1. digitalflood

    digitalflood Pooh-Bah (1,600) Feb 4, 2011 New York
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    Article:

    Guinness stout and Bud Lite differ in, to be conservative, several ways, but one is that they’re brewed with very different types of yeast. Lager isn’t just a beer style, it’s a yeast lifestyle. Humans have been brewing with ale yeast—Saccharomyces cerevisiae—for thousands of years. But it was less than 600 years ago that European brewers stumbled on lager yeast, which behaves very differently and produces that distinctive lager flavor.

    Lager yeast is a cross of ale yeast with another species, but it took until 2011 for that other species to finally be identified in Patagonian forests. A new study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers EmilyClare Baker and Bing Wang presents the genome of this recently discovered parent, Saccharomyces eubayanus.

    By comparing the genome with the two strains of lager yeast around today, the researchers may have settled a dispute about the biological origins of lager yeast. Looking at the two strains, there are many more differences between the ale yeast portions of their genomes than have accumulated in the Saccharomyces eubayanus portions. This points to independent hybridization events starting with different ale yeast parents rather than a single hybrid that has since split into two strains.

    So lager yeast was born at least twice through meetings of the two species, which means we can justifiably celebrate this style's birthday twice each year—perhaps with a nice lager beer.

    Source:

    http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/08/lager-brewing-yeast-was-probably-born-twice/
     
    #1 digitalflood, Aug 14, 2015
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  2. The_Snow_Bird

    The_Snow_Bird Grand Pooh-Bah (3,557) May 7, 2015 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I remember reading an article about this the other day
     
    #2 The_Snow_Bird, Aug 15, 2015
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  3. CurtFromHershey

    CurtFromHershey Initiate (0) Oct 4, 2012 Minnesota

    I'd be curious about beer made with the "lager half" of the parentage. Would it be extremely lagery, or something new altogether flavor wise?
     
    #3 CurtFromHershey, Aug 15, 2015
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  4. ElChuques

    ElChuques Initiate (0) Oct 8, 2014 Arkansas

    Interesting. How long until the beer historians are in here arguing over the differences between ale and lager?

    Beer is lager, then there's ales and porters.
    What about Kolsch and altbier?
    Ale is beer, is a stout a porter?
    Well, in 1802 in England, blah blah.
    But in Germany in 1801, blah blah.
     
    #4 ElChuques, Aug 15, 2015
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  5. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Lager yeast is either the Frohberg or Saaz type, so yeah.
     
    #5 hopfenunmaltz, Aug 15, 2015
  6. lester619

    lester619 Initiate (0) Apr 17, 2009 Wisconsin

    Yeah, used to think I had a pretty good handle on how all this stuff works. I've pretty much given up at this point.
     
    #6 lester619, Aug 15, 2015
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  7. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,157) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    In Memoriam Pooh-Bah Trader

    #7 cavedave, Aug 15, 2015
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  8. bushycook

    bushycook Zealot (681) Jan 31, 2011 Virginia

    Bring it.
     
    #8 bushycook, Aug 18, 2015
  9. CASK1

    CASK1 Pundit (951) Jan 7, 2010 Florida

    I think the historical distinction between "ale" and "beer" has to do with hops. Hops are a relatively recent (key word relatively) addition to brewing recipes. We now (at least in the US) tend to associate "ale" with top fermenting yeast, and "lager" with bottom-fermenting yeast. As the article states, there is good science to support this distinction. When hops were discovered in Europe and their use in beer explored, they were controversial, and even legally prevented from use in brewing in some countries. "Ale" came to be associated with fermented grains that did not contain hops, while "beer" was a similar beverage brewed with hops. I know this needs references, and I will try to find them (unless @jesskidden beats me to it!).
     
    #9 CASK1, Aug 18, 2015
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  10. pehodges

    pehodges Devotee (395) May 25, 2013 Massachusetts

    The American interpretation. In the UK, a lager is not a beer.
     
    #10 pehodges, Aug 19, 2015
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