Origins of Lager Found In Argentina

utkonos writes "After decades of pondering, scientists have found the secret to the creation of lager. An elusive species of yeast isolated in the forests of Argentina was key to the invention of the crisp-tasting German beer. From the article: 'Their best bet is that centuries ago, S. eubayanus somehow found its way to Europe and hybridized with the domestic yeast used to brew ale, creating an organism that can ferment at the lower temperatures used to make lager. Geneticists have known since the 1980s that the yeast brewers use to make lager, S. pastorianus, was a hybrid of two yeast species: S. cerevisiae — used to make ales, wine and bread — and some other, unidentified organism.'"

Comments

Maybe the conquistadors brought it WITH them

[elrous0]

Their best bet is that centuries ago, S. eubayanus somehow found its way to Europe

How do they know it wasn't the other way around? Maybe we Europeans brought it as a gift to our New World brothers.

Re:Maybe the conquistadors brought it WITH them

[lahvak]

It seems that that particular species of yeast does not appear in Europe. Only its hybrids do. So while it is possible that the yeast first traveled to Argentina, and then became extinct in Europe, it seems more likely that it originated at the place where it still can be found.

Talk about a good reason for biodiversity

[wisebabo]

Maybe if the average beer drinker knew that his brew was made possible by a rare yeast found in an obscure gall plant found in Patagonia he'd be more supportive of conservation efforts!

Then again he'd probably just change the channel from the Discovery channel to ESPN.

Re:Talk about a good reason for biodiversity

[stms]

As a Beer drinker myself I resent the fact that you think we don't appreciate biodiversity. Beer has been helping people increase the biodiversity of their offspring for centuries. It's come close to helping me increase mine at least a couple times.

Re:Meh

[wsxyz]

pilsner is a type of lager.

Re:They can keep it!

[businessnerd]

Ale vs Lager only refers to the type of yeast and the temperature at which it was fermented. It has nothing to do with the color/opacity. While most ales the typical beer drinker encounters are darker than lagers, there are plenty of examples of lager styles that are very dark (e.g. doppelbock). Also, color does not always tell you how much flavor the beer has. It is just an indicator of which flavors you are likely to have more of, and even then, there are ways of making a really dark, yet relatively flavorless beer. For example, a beer that used a lot of "black patent malt" but is otherwise light on barley malt and hops would be as black as a Guinness but as flavorful as a Keystone Light.

Re:They can keep it!

[Guido von Guido]

A beer with more than an ounce or two of black patent per gallon is going to taste astringent and burnt, somewhat like sucking on a bag of tea leaves. It certainly will not be flavorless. Also, there's no such thing as "light on malt." Beer can't be made without it, it's chemically impossible.

Of course you can make a beer that's "light on malt." A pound of malt has enough enzymes for at least an equal weight of non-malted grains. For that matter, you could convert non-malted grains with a source of enzymes. For instance, chicha is traditionally made with non-malted corn, with the starch converted to sugar by the enzymes in saliva. No reason you couldn't do that with unmalted barley or wheat.

Getting back to the original poster, though, there are definitely dark lagers available (e.g., dunkels, schwarzbiers and Baltic porters).