Australian drinkers will soon have the option of buying a beer with a much longer shelf life.

A new type of malt barley, developed by Adelaide researchers and a Japanese brewer, can prevent beer from tasting stale as quickly.

South Australian farmers are to begin commercial production of the barley this year.

Researcher Jason Eglinton said the grain was not genetically modified, it just had a defective enzyme.

"This particular enzyme in normal barley catalyses the reaction that produces sort of stale, off-type flavours that are normally characterised as a cardboard-type taste that creeps into beer over time," he said.

"With the defective version of this enzyme that doesn't happen, so basically the beer keeps that fresh, crisp taste for much longer."

The researchers said the beer took more than twice as long to go stale, lasting for about a year compared with four months if regular barley is used.