B.C. researchers explore wild yeast to help struggling craft breweries reduce hop imports
Langara College and UBC project aims to help breweries create new flavours while lowering costs during a drought that's hit hop growing.
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A new research project led by Langara College and the University of British Columbia is exploring how to brew beer using wild yeast foraged from around British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest—a strategy aimed at giving the province's struggling brewing industry financial relief while creating new flavour profiles.
Funded by Genome B.C., researchers and students gathered wild yeast samples from across the region, including Prince George. The project emerged from conversations between colleagues at Langara and simple observation: commercially available yeast for brewing is traditionally very narrow in range, and hop growing has become increasingly difficult.
"Hop growing is very water intensive, and the recent years of drought have made it difficult for the crop to thrive," said project lead Dr. Stephanie Cheung, an instructor at Langara College. Brewers heavily rely on importing hops from the United States, where tariffs add significant costs.
Yeast, Cheung explained, is much more than just a fermentation agent. "Yeast is almost like a little factory. They have a lot going on there in terms of their metabolic pathway," she said. Different wild yeast strains produce different flavour profiles, potentially minimizing the need for added hops.
In early tests, Cheung added wild yeast and malt extract without any hops, and colleagues detected flavours like mango and tropical fruit—demonstrating that yeast alone can create desirable taste profiles.
Two Lower Mainland breweries, Parallel 49 in Vancouver and Barnside Brewing in Delta, are supporting the project. Barnside grows and uses its own hops and grain. Co-founder Ken Malenstyn emphasized the value of local sourcing: "The more that we can keep stuff here at home, that's great from a business perspective … but it's also a more unique taste journey. Terroir in beer is no different than in wine."
Cheung and her colleagues hope to create the province's first wild yeast discovery and characterization platform for breweries. A prototype is expected later this year.
