Two novel Pediococcus strains, Z-9(T) and Z-17, were isolated from a distilled-spirit-fermenting cellar in Hebei Province, China. The cells were Gram-positive, non-spore-forming, non-motile cocci and occurred in pairs or tetrads. The strains were facultatively anaerobic and produced only lactic acid [d(-) and l(+) isomers in the ratio 50 : 50] from glucose fermentation. Catalase activity was not present. Both strains were able to grow in 6.5 % ethanol and at pH 3.5, but not in 4 % NaCl. The mean genomic G+C content of the two strains was 39.5+/-0.5 mol% (39 mol% for the type strain, Z-9(T)). The levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between the two novel strains and related species of the genus Pediococcus ranged from 98.3 to 98.7 %. The levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain Z-9(T) and the phylogenetically closely related pediococci Pediococcus damnosus LMG 11484(T), Pediococcus inopinatus LMG 11409(T), Pediococcus parvulus LMG 11486(T) and Pediococcus cellicola LMG 22956(T) were 14.6, 33, 28.7 and 16.8 %, respectively. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic analyses, a novel species, Pediococcus ethanolidurans sp. nov., is proposed, with strain Z-9(T) (=AS 1.3889(T)=LMG 23354(T)) as the type strain.