First lager originated in Munich in 1602

Germany, home to the hugely popular annual Oktoberfest, has long heralded itself as the birthplace of lager.

Now, new research points to exactly where it came from.

Scientists have scoured old brewing records to trace the history of lager yeast back to a brewery in Munich in 1602.

Previous analyzes had shown that the yeast was a combination of two other species, but when and how this happened was mysterious.

The answer, say experts in Germany, is that pilsner likely came about by chance when the beer-producing malnutrition yeast used in Bavaria since the 14th century was mistakenly mixed with Bohemian supernutrient wheat beer yeast.

Bohemia is a region of the modern-day Czech Republic, giving the Czechs a claim to fame in the creation of lager beer. However, in the 17th century it was a German state.

The contamination arose after the death of a white beer brewer whose possessions were confiscated by Maximilian the Great, Duke of Bavaria and later Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.

For economic reasons, Hans VI von Degenberg had been given special permission to set up a wheat beer brewery on Bavarian territory, despite the mandate that all Bavarian brewers must use bottom-fermenting yeast in the mid-16th century.

Just as the beer had proved hugely popular in Bohemia, it was also a success in Bavaria.

But when Von Degenberg’s grandson died in 1602 without an heir, the brewery in the small border town of Schwarzach was seized by Maximilian the Great, who then took the yeast to his own venture in Munich, experts say.

Prof John Morrissey, a yeast evolution expert at University College Cork, told the Telegraph that the duke was ‘jealous of the economic success the von Degenbergs had with their wheat beer’.

For the next five years, the duke’s court brewery (Hofbräühaus) alternated between making bottom-fermented brown beer and top-fermented wheat beer, a period when the two yeasts mixed and lager yeast was born.

After that, researchers say strains of yeast — known as Saccharomyces pastorianus — have spread across Europe and are the source of all modern pilsner yeast.

However, it wasn’t until over 200 years before the first lager beer was actually brewed, when Saccharomyces pastorianus was extracted in Copenhagen and properly isolated by Carlsberg’s owner.

“There is a certain irony that Hans VIII von Degenberg’s inability to produce a son triggered the events leading up to the creation of pilsner yeast,” said study lead author Mathias Hutzler.

“When one line died out, another started. No heir – but what a legacy he has left to the world!’

Despite being praised for its beer, Germany is not home to the popular drink.

The drink has actually been made since ancient times, with recent archeology showing evidence of brewing in the Eastern Mediterranean some 13,000 years ago.

Until the early 20th century, beer was the typical beer produced, but lager now accounts for about 90 percent of beer consumed annually.

The new research is published in the journal FEMS yeast research.