The proportion of palmitic acid in phosphatidyl-choline in brewing yeast cells pre-treated with heat shock was 5.2% higher, and that of palmitoleic acid was 5.7% lower than the proportions in untreated cells after 24-h incubation. Alcohol acetyl transferase (AATase) activity was 1.4-fold higher thats that in untreated cells at 24-h. Heat-shocked cells were tested for use in shochu fermentation. On the 2nd day, the expression of the AATase gene (ATF1) was approximately three-fold higher than that in untreated cells. AATase activity in the cells and the isoamyl acetate concentration in the mash were higher in shochu fermentation using cells pre-treated with heat shock than when untreated cells mere used.