The craft beer brewing industry has enjoyed explosive growth over the past decade and as component of this expansion interest in the production of “wild” or spontaneously fermented alcoholic beers and ales has increased dramatically. Unlike traditionally fermented ales, the vast majority of which are brewed with less than a dozen well characterized domestic strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, spontaneous fermentation typically depends on environmental yeasts of the Saccharomycetaceae family. We report here a recharacterization and comparison of a number of previously isolated yeast species from various environmental sources as their characteristics relate to their usefulness in the craft brewing industry. In addition, characterization of a strain newly isolated from a New England malting facility is presented. This comparison has confirmed that yeasts of potential use in the brewing industry can vary widely in terms of species, secondary metabolite production, carbohydrate use, and fermentation characteristics
