Which microorganisms produce alcohol? Name the group to which these microorganisms belong?

Yeast microorganisms produce alcohol through the fermentation process, and they belong to the fungi group. The most commercially important species is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, commonly called brewer's yeast or baker's yeast, which has been used for thousands of years to produce alcoholic beverages and ferment bread dough. These single-celled fungi metabolize sugars under anaerobic conditions (without oxygen), converting glucose into ethanol (alcohol) and carbon dioxide as waste products while generating energy for their own cellular functions.

Different yeast strains and fermentation conditions produce varying alcohol concentrations and flavor profiles suitable for specific beverages—wine yeasts tolerate higher alcohol levels (12-15%), while beer yeasts work at lower concentrations, and distiller's yeasts are selected for maximum alcohol production before distillation concentrates the ethanol further. Besides S. cerevisiae, other yeast species contribute to specialty fermentations, such as Saccharomyces bayanus for champagne and certain bacteria also produce alcohols like ethanol and butanol through fermentation. The controlled use of these microorganisms in fermentation industries represents one of humanity's oldest biotechnology applications, predating scientific understanding of microbiology by thousands of years.