Prior to the mid 19th century, Ale made by Saccharomyces cerevisiae was the predominant style of beer. Technological changes and the industrialisation of brewing played a significant part of the emergence of pilsner-style lager beer and its growth to dominance through the 20th century. Lager beer is made by the hybrid  yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus, and the generation of the first pure yeast cultures by Emil Christian Hansen in 1883 is regarded as a seminal moment in this story.

But the actual origins of lager yeast have been shrouded in mystery and controversy since the discovery of one parent – Saccharomyces eubayanus – in South America in 2011. While the second parent is an ale strain of S. cerevisiae – the origins, timing and site of formation of the “ancestral hybrid” have been unclear. Two studies in FEMS Yeast Research in the past year have answered some questions and raised others. First, Geraldine Butler’s group discovered the first European isolates of S. eubayanus – establishing the principle of an ancestral European population, and then, a team led by Mathias Hutzler and Martin Zarngow proposed a radical new hypothesis for when and where S. pastorianus was conceived and born. Sex, power, politics and science feature in a story that has gained global media attention – from the New York Times to the tabloids, and across the popular science press. In this webinar, the leaders of these studies will provide the latest updates and new insights based on even more recent findings. Join us to discover where exactly your beer comes from!

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