Recorded during the COVID-19 lockdowns of April 2020, this episode of Beer as a Conversation gives Matt the chance to finally sit down with Stéphane Meulemans, General Manager of Fermentis, after a near-miss at the Fermentis Sharing Day in Lille the previous year.

Stéphane’s path to leading one of the world’s major yeast suppliers is an unusual one. A food chemistry graduate who fell hard for beer during his studies, he spent the better part of two decades with US hop supplier Yakima Chief working on global business development and new product R&D, before running his own Belgian craft brewery for more than a decade. That dual background in hops and fermentation shapes much of how he thinks about beer — particularly the way yeast interacts with and transforms the flavour contributions of every other ingredient.

The conversation covers the challenges Fermentis faced keeping production running during the early weeks of the pandemic, including protecting an Italian facility that had become critical to global beer yeast supply. From there, Stéphane takes Matt through several of the major R&D directions Fermentis is pursuing: maltose-negative yeasts for low- and no-alcohol beer production, the growing use of bacteria for controlled souring, the expanding toolkit of functional yeast derivatives (including SpringBlanche, a yeast protein extract designed to stabilise haze in beers like New England IPAs), and how Fermentis is thinking about its role across beer, wine and cider.

Stéphane also reflects on growing up with Belgian beer culture — including table beers shared with the family at meals — and what that heritage means for the global craft industry.

Enjoy the conversation.