Heineken H41

Heineken H41 is the most extraordinary beer in the modern Heineken portfolio — born from a scientific discovery that rewrote the history of lager yeast. In 2010, Argentine scientist Diego Libkind was walking in a remote beech forest in Patagonia at 41 degrees south latitude when he discovered wild mushrooms with a faint alcohol scent. Testing confirmed a yeast of remarkable quality — one that turned out to be the evolutionary ancestor, the 'mother', of all lager yeasts including the Heineken A-yeast itself. Heineken secured the exclusive worldwide licence for this yeast outside Argentina and Master Brewer Willem van Waesberghe spent years taming it for commercial brewing. The result — launched first in the Netherlands and Italy in 2016, then the UK and USA in 2017 — was H41: the world's first Wild Lager. Named after the latitude coordinate of the Patagonian forest where the mother yeast was found, H41 is brewed at 5.3% ABV and delivers a fuller, richer, more complex character than standard Heineken, with spicy notes, fruity hints and a clean finish. The beer is the first release in Heineken's 'Lager Explorations' series. Heineken holds the exclusive global licence for this yeast, which also funded a new yeast research centre in Argentina.