Agave juice is fermented and distilled twice in order to obtain mezcal, a traditional spirit beverage. The goal of this study was to select yeast or yeast mixtures that could be used in industrial production of high-quality mezcal. Yeasts isolated
during fermentation ofAgave duranguensiswere tested to identify the best strains with respect to the chemical and organoleptic characteristics of the produced mezcal. Three individual yeast strains were selected for further study:Torulaspora delbrueckiistrain ITD-00014a, Saccharomyces cerevisiaestrain ITD-00185, andKluyveromyces marxianusstrain ITD-00147. Analysis of the response surfaces permitted identification of three inoculants: one mixture (75%S. cerevisiaeITD-00185 and 25%T. delbrueckii ITD-00014a) and two pure strains (100% K. marxianusITD-00147 and
100%S. cerevisiaeITD-00185). Mezcal made by using the inoculant constituted by 75% S. cerevisiaeITD-00185 and 25%T. delbrueckiiITD-00014a (named mezcal 75Sc/25Td) was the best in terms of yield,
richness of volatile compounds, and acceptability in sensory tests. We propose using this mixture of
yeasts to develop a product that can be used as an inoculant in industrial production of mezcal and
others spirits from different agave species.