People in the rural areas of China, India and most of the
Southeast Asian countries produce rice wines that are similar
to the liquid pressed from tapé ketan. Therefore, the selection
of microorganisms is an important step in the preparation of
high-quality rice wines in those regions. On the other hand,
industrial-scale ethanol fermentation is usually carried out at
30 to 35℃ because the final fermentation efficiency rapidly
decreases if the temperature rises above 35℃. It is therefore
important to enhance the fermentative ability at high temperatures
in order to achieve more efficient industrial ethanol
production. The discovery of the thermotolerant, fermentative
yeast strains, S. cerevisiae TW1-3 and I. orientalis TB2-
1 in rice wines is of interest and significance not only for
traditional rice wine and alcohol producers but also for industrial
purposes.