Five yeast strains isolated from agave juice were studied for their fermentative and aromatic capacity. The experiments were performed using agave juice supplemented with ammonium sulphate, as is commonly done in tequila distilleries. Three strains classified as Saccharomyces cerevisiae showed high biomass and ethanol production, as well as higher ethanol tolerance than those classified as Kloeckera africana and Kloeckera apiculata, which showed scarce growth. The results suggest that Kloeckera strains were affected by nutritional limitation and/or toxic compounds present in agave juice. Agave juice analyses showed a lower amino acid content than those reported in grape juice. S. cerevisiae strains produced predominantly amyl and isoamyl alcohols, n-propanol, 2-phenyl ethanol, succinic acid, glycerol, methanol, isoamyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, acetaldehyde and isobutanol, whereas Kloeckera strains showed a high production of acetic acid, 2-phenyl ethyl acetate and ethyl acetate. The methanol concentration was significantly different among the yeasts studied. The diversity between three S. cerevisiae strains were higher for the aromatic profile than for genetic level and kinetic parameter. On the other hand, the diversity of Kloeckera yeasts were lower than Saccharomyces yeasts even when belonging to two different species. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.