As the craft-brewing world matures, innovation is cooling off in many corners of the industry. The once-dependable flood of new brewing technology has slowed to a trickle as brewers tighten their capital-expenditure belts. Yet the ingredient side of the brewing world remains a bright light, with rapid innovation answering big questions as they relate to changing consumer preference for nonalcoholic and low-calorie products, tighter niche offerings for aficionados, and tools to extract greater efficiency while brewing at higher quality. Here, we take a look at some of these new yeast strains, delivery methods, yeast-derived flavor products, and more.
Escarpment Terps & Elysium
escarpmentlabs.com
Plenty of brewers we trust count on Escarpment for researched and rigorous yeasts that are both functional and flavorful. With Terps, they took the classic American ale strain and rapidly evolved it, steering it toward punchier terpene production that’s perfect for modern West Coast–style IPA. The lab similarly bred Elysium with a focus on pineapple esters, perfect for tropically tinted IPAs or even fruit beers. But you don’t sacrifice at the altar of flavor—Escarpment has optimized both yeasts to get the job done, even in challenging production environments.
White Labs & Yeast Bay PurePitch Next Generation
whitelabs.com
We’ve come a long way over the past decade, and you don’t have to dig back too many years into our archive to see White Labs test-tube-style yeast packaging in our photos. Those seem like an antiquity now, as their PurePitch Next Generation packaging consistently delivers more cells into every pitch with healthy yeast that’s raring to go. Add in the beautiful collection of Yeast Bay cultures that White Labs now offers, and you have an unbeatable combination for any brewer who wants to explore expressive, clean, or funky brews.
Wyeast Private Culture
wyeastlab.com/private-culture-collection
We’re suckers for limited-time offers, and the quarterly releases through the Wyeast Private Culture program are great ways to stretch out and explore. The first quarter 2025 offerings are a West Coast IPA strain (1217-PC) with low ester production even at warmer temperatures, and a North American lager strain (2272-PC) that amplifies malt character in pale lagers.
Imperial Gnome & The GOAT
imperialyeast.com/yeast-strains/gnome
imperialyeast.com/yeast-strains/the-goat
Gnome offers classic Belgian phenolic notes, but balanced, while boosting hop character in pale beers and dropping bright. The GOAT, meanwhile, is aimed squarely at what you think it is—German-style bocks, maibocks, and heartier lagers. Get them while they’re in season.
Berkeley NA Strains
berkeleyyeast.com/pages/na-strains
They’re only available to pro brewers at this point, but the engineered NA Cabana and NA Classic strains don’t ferment maltose and maltotriose (only glucose). Through their fast fermentations, they also produce familiar beery flavors and aromas that will help you forget you’re drinking nonalcoholic beer. Cabana ticks the tropical box, while Classic is suited for more of a clean lager feel.
Omega Vossa Nova Thiolized Kveik
omegayeast.com/yeast/kveiks/vossa-nova
Vossa Nova combines the temperature flexibility and haze of Voss kveik with the expressive flavor we’ve come to enjoy from Omega’s thiolized strains—it’s a heady mix and perfect for homebrewers and small breweries that like to let fermentations rip.
Lallemand Yops
shop-us.lallemandbrewing.com/brewing-flavors/
Brewers have been using yeast to produce preferred flavors for as long as they’ve brewed beer, but labs are now using modern tech to hybridize and modify yeast to specifically produce desirable flavor and aroma compounds. The new Yops line from EvodiaBio, available from Lallemand, promises specific hops-like flavor blends—floral, citrus, fruity—but the flavors are products of yeast rather than hops. They’re bottled for easy addition to brews, making them an interesting option for NA beer, for example, where microbiological stability is paramount. Look for results of our testing in a few months.
Fermentis Brewer-Friendly Packaging
fermentis.com
It’s a small thing, but the new dry yeast packaging from Fermentis, with an integrated spot for punching in a pouring spout, makes brewers’ work just a little bit more foolproof on brew days. And per-batch QR codes now provide the ultimate in traceability. Small iterations, but welcome ones.