NPR’s The Salt reports on how an American obsession with craft beers is leading to a greater understanding of the microbes that make sour beer possible, even influencing other industries outside the craft beer sphere. While the report is mostly about the microbial functions of yeasts and bacteria on beer-making, I found this paragraph interesting:

In its American reinvention, sour beer has allowed microbiologists an opportunity to find new souring microbes with applications that could extend beyond simply beer. Many of the yeasts and bacteria — and the compounds they produce — being studied for sour brewing have potential applications in manufacturing biodegradable plastics, biofuel, drug delivery systems, antimicrobial substances, breaking down pollutants and antibiotics, and advancing gene and protein expression research.

Medical applications and plastics manufacturing processes aside, my taste buds look forward to what comes next from this microbial revolution! 🙂

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