Lager, Yeast From Patagonia Allowed Bavarians To Cold Brew

So, it seems that the yeast which creates lager is a hybrid. Somehow, a yeast from South America mingled with a European yeast and the resulting hybrid is what creates that tasty beverage.

The stowaway, yeast that may have been transported from a distant shore on a piece of wood or in the stomach of a fruit fly, was destined for great things.

The newfound yeast fused with a distant relative, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which was used for millennia to make leavened bread and fermented wine and ale.

The resulting hybrid, representing a marriage of species as evolutionarily separated as humans and chickens, would give us lager, the clear, cold-fermented beer first brewed by 16th century Bavarians.