Lagers

Lager is the most popular beer in the world. Clean and refreshing, this style has won over 90% of the international beer market. Lager yeast strains are classified into different lineages based on their genomic structure.  

• Group I (Saaz) lager strains are allotriploid with three sets of chromosomes, one from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and two from S. eubayanus.  
• Group II (Frohberg) lager strains are allotetraploid with four sets of chromosomes, two from S. cerevisiae and two from S. eubayanus.  
• Recently, classical and non-GMO methods have been used to breed novel lager hybrid strains that are distinct from the Group I and II traditional lineages 1 . These novel Group III (Renaissance) strains are allotetraploid with four sets of chromosomes, three from S. cerevisiae and one from S. eubayanus.  

The most well-known lager yeast strain, Weihenstephan 34/70 as well as LalBrew Diamond™, belong to the Group II lineage.