This paper focuses on the research into the influence of salt on physiol- ogy of the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Specifically, the work focused on how NaCl affected the growth, viability and fermentation performance of this yeast in laboratory- scale experiments. One of the main findings of the research presented involved the influ- ence of salt “preconditioning” of yeasts which represents a method of pre-culturing of cells in the presence of salt in an attempt to improve subsequent fermentation performance. Such an approach resulted in preconditioned yeasts having an improved capability to ferment high-sugar containing media (up to 60% w/v of glucose) with increased cell viability and with increased levels of produced ethanol (higher than 20% in vol.). Salt-preconditioning was most likely influencing the stress-tolerance of yeasts by inducing the synthesis of key metabolites such as trehalose and glycerol which act to improve cells’ ability to withstand osmostress and ethanol toxicity. The industrial-scale trials using salt-preconditioned yeasts verified the benefit of the physiological engineering approach to practical fermentations. Overall, this research has demonstrated that a relatively simple method designed to adapt yeast cells physiologically