In its second yeast launch of the year, Lallemand Brewing has unveiled LalBrew Verdant IPA, touted as “a unique strain” with performance and sensory abilities that can create hoppy styles of IPA beers. 

The company has collaborated with UK-based Verdant Brewing, a craft brewery focusing on India Pale Ales (IPAs) and modern hop-forward styles. According to Lallemand Brewing, they dried a unique strain isolated in the brewery and named it in recognition of its origin.

This yeast represents a new addition to our portfolio of solutions to enhance and put forward hoppy character in beer that already includes LalBrew BRY-97 (West Coast Ale Yeast) and New England (East Coast Ale Yeast), the company notes. 

A range of international breweries have executed successful pilot brewing trials with LaBrew Verdant IPA. This yeast’s availability in a dry stable form will give brewers significant opportunities to create diversity in IPAs.

Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Robert Percival, regional sales manager for Europe, says this particular strain was in development for two and a half years before it was commercially released. “It was sent by Verdant Brewing to Lallemand and isolated in early 2018.” 

“At this time, Verdant Brewing was testing and trialing a New England IPA yeast strain and proposed its house brewing yeast strain as a solution for the wider brewing market and specifically for modern IPA styles,” he reveals. 

“They saw great potential in this unique strain and wanted to share it with the broader brewing world,” Percival adds.

Formulation hurdles 
The biggest challenge for producing this or any brewing yeast strain is successfully growing and drying them on a large scale, Percival states. 

“Not all brewing yeasts grow quickly. This can make it challenging to successfully produce and achieve the desired biomass and yeast cell concentration.”

Moreover, brewing yeast has a very high level of purity and quality, meaning that production has to be very tightly controlled with a high level of testing, he says.

“Not all brewing yeast strains survive the drying process, which adds to the challenge of producing them commercially. This process takes a long time to perfect and refine the optimal growing conditions and every strain is different.”

Craft beer evolves
Percival says the US beer market is driving global trends in the craft beer sector and is “certainly the biggest influence behind IPA’s popularity.”

“Since the beginnings of the craft beer revolution in the US from the late 1970s onwards, IPA has dominated and largely defined craft brewing, with fresh highly hopped beers. Today IPAs represent 35 percent of total craft beer production in the US and this trend is growing globally,” he notes.

Now there is great diversity within the IPA category. Consumers have access to many different IPA styles, including West Coast IPA, New England IPA, Black IPA and Sour IPA.

Modern brewing trendsThe US beer market is driving trends in the craft beer sector.
According to Percival, there is an enhanced appetite and interest in new discoveries and pushing the boundaries of beer styles. 

“Two key themes and trends in brewing, broadly speaking, is diversity and new experiences,” he says. “This is seen in creating and adapting beer styles, trying new ingredients and new processes to deliver a new, exciting and high-quality experience for the consumer.”

“It is only relatively recently that hops have become the dominant flavoring and addition to beer, historically there have been many things used to flavor beer, including botanicals and spices.”

The focus in the current craft brewing sector for flavor and diversity would certainly make sense if there were continued growth in flavored beers. 

The “pursuit of flavor and new experiences” sits well in most alcohol sectors, but today, there are also more trends in health and lifestyle, Percival flags.  

“For example, low- and no-alcohol, low-calorie and low-carb beverages appeal to a younger and more health-conscious audience.”

Moreover, the rise of hard seltzers is notable, and FoodingredientsFirst has previously reported that flavors in the hard seltzer categories are brimming with innovation. 

“It will be interesting to see if this trend continues to grow across the wider beverage industry,” Percival concludes. 

In July, Coca-Cola revealed its plans to launch Topo Chico Hard Seltzer into Latin America in 2021, as the trend for low-alcohol drinks continues to proliferate. 

Last month, Blue California launched a range of natural flavors with its Destination Flavors Collection 2021 for ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, appealing to home-bound, health-conscious consumers.