Beginning with Vol. 5, No. 3, July 2021, and updated since
Omega Yeast has introduced Cosmic Punch, a yeast strain designed to free bound thiols, compounds that may contribute to tropical flavors.
Cosmic Punch is the first release (remember, this was 2021) in Omega’s “Thiolized” series. These are strains that enhance a yeast’s ability to biotransform compounds found in malt and hops to unleash thiols. Omega both created and trademarked the adjective. Since Toru Kishimoto at Asahi Brewing identified 4-mercapto-4-methylpentan-2-one (4MMP) and 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol (3MH) as “high impact” contributors to hop aroma the popularity of hop varieties that contain these thiols in “free form” has soared.
However, many other varieties are rich in thiol precursors that most brewing strains cannot transform.
Fast forward to now. Strains from Omega and from Berkeley Yeast have been engineered to free bound thiols in hops and in malted barley. In 2022, a excellent article in the Master Brewers Association of the Americas Technical Quarterly offered “Genetically Engineered Yeast — A Review of Terminology, Science, and Regulation.” I recommend reading that and visiting the Berkeley and Omega websites to learn more about how they engineer these strains.
OMEGA YEAST
Cosmic Punch Ale (OYL-402)
A Thiolized version of British Ale V.
Star Party Ale (OYL-404)
A child of Chico (West Coast Ale I)
Lunar Crush Lager (OYL-403)
A version of Mexican Lager (OYL-113)
Helio Gazer Ale (OYL-405)
Engineered to produce thiols at 200x above sensory threshold levels. British V is the parent.
BERKELEY YEAST
Three Tropics strains are built on popular strains.
London Tropics. Parent strain: London Ale
Vermont Tropics. Parent strain: GigaYeast Vermont IPA
Chill Tropics. Parent strain: Augustiner lager