http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/aug/13/yeast-eden-future-of-beer
I found this through the Long Now Foundation. They see it as something like the seed vault in Svalbard; a backup of yeast strains in case of some kind of apocalyptic event.
Of course, I would rather see that sort of thing set up in the Arctic like the seed vault (so that it would stay frozen even in case of the failure of electricity), but for now it's nice to know that there are big banks of beer-making strains out there.
The services offered by that company (Cara Technology) look way out of reach of most homebrewers, but it's interesting to see what's available to commercial brewers (they boast the "largest commercially-available collection of brewing yeasts in the world").
I found this through the Long Now Foundation. They see it as something like the seed vault in Svalbard; a backup of yeast strains in case of some kind of apocalyptic event.
Of course, I would rather see that sort of thing set up in the Arctic like the seed vault (so that it would stay frozen even in case of the failure of electricity), but for now it's nice to know that there are big banks of beer-making strains out there.
The services offered by that company (Cara Technology) look way out of reach of most homebrewers, but it's interesting to see what's available to commercial brewers (they boast the "largest commercially-available collection of brewing yeasts in the world").
