• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Today’s weird yeast strain: Heineken launches H41, using rare ‘mother’ yeast discovered in Patagonia

January 9, 2017Keith Gribbins

Heineken H41 Bottle image buildup from additive studios on Vimeo.

Variety has never been an enormous part of the Heineken philosophy. Consistency, tradition, purity — these make beer companies great. Here’s an example: Central to the famous “Heineken taste” is the brand’s A-yeast. It was first used 130 years ago by Dr. Elion (a brewmaster who trained with vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization brainiac Louis Pasteur), and it’s still being used today by the company as one of its greatest and most uninteresting secrets. So, it caught our collective attention the other day when we noticed Heineken releasing a limited-edition beer with a new yeast. Monocles will be cracking all over Amsterdam.

The new beer is called H41, named after the latitude of the beech forest in Patagonia where this “rare mother yeast” was discovered. And well, the H stands for Heineken. From the press release:

Willem van Waesberghe, Heineken Master Brewer, commented: “When the ‘mother’ of our A-yeast was discovered in Patagonia, it presented us with a unique opportunity. Using our unrivalled expertise, Heineken’s Master Brewers began to work with the mother yeast to unlock a spectrum of new flavours. Our ‘Lager Explorations’ series was born. The taste of every beer in the series will be surprising and intense, but still balanced and refreshing.”

Alas, the beer is only currently available in Amsterdam’s Heineken Experience right now. H41 will also be launched in Italy in March and in selected outlets in The Netherlands from April onward. What we definitely definitely dig is the ad campaign above created by Additive Studios, which gives the beer a natural, earthy and eco-friendly feel. The video is a buildup sequence of a recent image campaign by Additive, which is comprised of several hundred layers and measured 18,000 px across once completed.

H41 will be available in 33-cl bottles and draught. As far as flavor, “the new lager has a fuller taste, with spicy notes balanced by subtle fruity hints.” New additions to the series will be announced in “due course.”

Crosby Hop Farm cbb crop
Watch: This 2018 Crosby Hop Farm harvest video captures the entire season in two-plus minutes
Founders Brewing
Founders Brewing explains nitro beer in this new video
Ball Corporation Oberon
Watch Bell’s Director of Operations John Mallett discuss the only four ingredients in Oberon
Today’s weird yeast strain: Mikkeller’s Wreck Ale uses yeast from an 1861 shipwreck

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Beer rebrands continue: Ballast Point, Fremont, New Glory and Blue Point (also, enjoy some tips for your refresh)
  • Colorado Strong launches public awareness campaign to help independent breweries
  • Here’s a video recap of 2020 from Deep Ellum Brewing, complete with dubstep score
  • Malt maker Rahr purchases all of eco energy maker Koda

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • Beer rebrands continue: Ballast Point, Fremont, New Glory and Blue Point (also, enjoy some tips for your refresh)
    January 21, 2021
  • virginia-beer-co-renovationHow Virginia Beer Co. used the shutdown to overhaul its facility (and keep people employed)
    January 19, 2021
  • Clean air, clean beer: New Ingersoll Rand oil-less reciprocating air compressors are ideal for breweries (aeration to canning)
    January 18, 2021
  • Non-alcoholic beer brand Athletic Brewing closes $17M+ in funding with famous backers, selects Crafted ERP, eyes big growth
    January 18, 2021
  • Watch: This awareness video on human trafficking from beer wholesaler Markstein Sales will move you to action
    January 14, 2021
  • Distribution updates: Massachusetts brewers celebrate franchise reform, Yuengling goes to Texas with Molson Coors and more from Bell’s, Stone and beyond
    January 14, 2021

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2021 · CBB Media LLC

Continue ...

sponsored by