Emil Hansen: The Botanical Genius Who Forever Changed Your Beer

August 27, 1909

My dear garden companions and brewing botanists, today marks the solemn anniversary of Emil Christian Hansen's departure from our earthly garden, a brilliant botanist who left this world on this day in 1909.

Before our dear Hansen worked his magic, brewing was nothing short of a capricious gamble, my fellow horticultural enthusiasts.

One moment you'd have a splendid batch, and the next—contamination! Disease! Ruin!

Hansen, that clever botanical genius, revolutionized the brewing industry by discovering how to separate pure yeast cells from their wild and unpredictable cousins.

Imagine, if you will, the generosity of spirit at the Carlsberg Laboratory where Hansen conducted his groundbreaking work! Rather than patent this revolutionary process, they published it openly—sharing every delicious detail with brewers worldwide, as freely as gardeners share cuttings over the fence.

Hansen christened his yeast after his laboratory home—Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis—such a delightfully scientific mouthful, isn't it, my green-thumbed darlings?

Samples of what became known as Carlsberg No. 1 were dispatched to breweries across the globe upon request and without charge.

How utterly refreshing!

Within a mere five years, most European breweries had embraced Carlsberg No. 1 with the enthusiasm of a clematis finding a new trellis. By 1892, American establishments like Pabst, Schlitz, and Anheuser-Busch were crafting their liquid amber with these pure yeast strains.

What you may not know, my conservatory confidants, is that Emil Hansen was a true renaissance soul. Beyond his botanical brilliance, he ventured into acting (imagine those dramatic flourishes!), portrait artistry (capturing the essence of his subjects like a well-pruned topiary), teaching (spreading knowledge like seeds in spring), and even authorship under a pseudonym (how deliciously mysterious).

Perhaps most charmingly, it was our dear Hansen who gifted Denmark with the first translation of Charles Darwin's Voyage of The Beagle.

One can easily picture him, surrounded by his botanical specimens, carefully translating tales of exotic flora from distant shores—what a magnificent intersection of science and literature!

So today, as you tend to your gardens or perhaps enjoy a well-crafted beer in your she-shed sanctuary, raise a glass to Emil Christian Hansen, whose botanical brilliance transformed brewing from an uncertain art to a science, and whose diverse talents remind us that the most interesting gardens contain a variety of unexpected and delightful specimens.