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

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.”