BREWING AND THE TAXONOMY OF BREWER'S YEAST

The review deals with the history, methods and current state of brewer's yeast taxonomy. An important factor in ensuring standard quality of finished beer is the use of pure yeast cultures in the production. Yeast used to be classified on the basis of its phenotype by the methods of traditional taxonomy, which are briefly addressed in the text. A short overview is given of the history of brewer's yeast classification and nomenclature. Particular attention is paid to molecular biological techniques that enable us to classify yeast on the basis of its phylogenetic relatedness. Basic principles of selected molecular biological methods and their use in brewer's yeast taxonomy are explained. We recommend restoring the historical name Saccharomyces carlsbergensis for bottom yeast and using Saccharomyces cerevisiae for top brewer's yeast.