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''Brettanomyces'' was first discovered by Hjelte Claussen in 1903. At the time of discovery, Claussen was aiming to recreate the flavor profile of traditional English ales by fermenting them with pure cultures of ''Saccharomyces'', and either pitching pure cultures of his newly discovered ''Brettanomyces'' yeast along with ''Saccharomyces'', or as he preferred, after the primary fermentation of ''Saccharomyces'' <ref>[https://www.facebook.com/download/448702618652516/GB190328184A.pdf "Improvements in and connected with the Manufacture of English Beers or Malt Liquors and in the Production of Pure Yeast Cultures for use therein." Patent application by Hjelte Claussen for ''Brettanomyces''. A.D. 1903.]</ref>. Although Claussen saw the character from ''Brettanomyces'' as a desirable character in ales and identified its character as a quality of traditional English ales, at some point ''Brettanomyces'' became identified as a contaminate in wineries and breweries due to some of the phenols that it sometimes produces. These have generally been described as barnyard, burnt plastic, wet animal, fecal, and horse sweat <ref name="Schifferdecker">[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/yea.3023/pdf The wine and beer yeast Dekkera bruxellensis. Anna Judith Schifferdecker, Sofia Dashko, Olena P. Ishchuk, and Jure Piškur. 7 July 201.]</ref>. The general viewpoint of brewers (other than Lambic and Flanders red/brown brewers in Belgium) and vintners that ''Brettanomyces'' is primarily a spoilage organism held for many decades, and still holds in most cases. More recently the positive flavor components that have been identified in ''Brettanomyces'' beer such as pineapple, stone fruits, and to some degree acetic acid, have regained popularity with brewers outside of Belgium.
''Brettanomyces'' has been identified on the skins of fruit <ref name="Schifferdecker"></ref>, as well as vectors (insects) <refname="Steensels">[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168160515001865 Brettanomyces yeasts — From spoilage organisms to valuable contributors to industrial fermentations. Jan Steensels, Luk Daenen, Philippe Malcorps, Guy Derdelinckx, Hubert Verachtert, Kevin J. Verstrepen. International Journal of Food Microbiology Volume 206, 3 August 2015, Pages 24–38.]</ref>. ''Brettanomyces'' is not considered to be airborne, however studies have found a very small amount of cells in the air at wineries where wine with ''Brettanomyces'' in it was being handled (most of the yeasts found in the air were ''Aureobasidium'' and ''Cryptococcus'', which aren't considered spoilage organisms in beer and wine). These set of studies also determined that very specific methodology was needed in order capture Brett from the air, and indicated that the yeast was "stressed". <ref>[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713513002284 Screening of yeast mycoflora in winery air samples and their risk of wine contamination. E. Ocón, P. Garijo, S. Sanz, C. Olarte, R. López, P. Santamaría, A.R. Gutiérrez. Food Control Volume 34, Issue 2, December 2013, Pages 261–267.]</ref>. While it is possible for ''Brettanomyces'' to be briefly carried by gusts of air, it only happens in the vicinity where the ''Brettanomyces'' beer or wine is being bottled (more so) or is actively fermenting (less so). Good cleaning and sanitation, and cold temperatures should be employed to keep ''Brettanomyces'' from infecting other equipment, and flying insects are a more likely cause for cross contamination of ''Brettanomyces''.
It is common in scientific literature to see the names ''Dekkera'' and ''Brettanomyces'' used as the genus name, with ''Dekkera'' being the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleomorph,_anamorph_and_holomorph teleomorph] version and ''Brettanomyces'' being the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleomorph,_anamorph_and_holomorph anamorph]. There are five species within the genus of Brettanomyces: ''B. anomola'', ''B. bruxellensis'', ''B. custersianus'', ''B. nanus'', and ''B. naardenensis''. Of these five species, only ''B. anomola'' and ''B. bruxellensis'' have been identified to have a teleomorph version. In their teleomorph version they are referred to as ''Dekkera anomola'' and ''Dekkera bruxellensis'' <ref name="Schifferdecker"></ref>. All of the other names such as the ones often used by yeast labs are derived by old nomenclature that is no longer used. The addition of small amounts of O2 stimulates glucose fermentation, as well as H+ acceptors such as acetaldehyde, acetone, pyruvic acid and other carbonyl compounds <ref name="yakobson_introduction">[http://www.brettanomycesproject.com/dissertation/introduction/ Yakobson, Chad. The Brettanomyces Project. Introduction. Retrieved 8/11/2015.]</ref>.