Raul Cano has successfully brewed a beer that can honestly be referred to as the only one of its kind in the world—a beer brewed with yeast that is 45 million years old.
Cano extracted the yeast from a Lebanese weevil inside ancient Burmese amber. He successfully activated the yeast and did what any self-respecting beer-loving scientist would do—used it to brew German pale ale and wheat beer for what would become known as the Fossil Fuels Brewing Company.
Incidentally, Cano’s work with prehistoric fossils was a major inspiration for the ‘Jurassic Park’ movies. He is now a scientist at California Polytechnic University and uses the sales proceeds from his 45 million-year-old beer to fund research on biofuels at Cal Poly.
The fungus, originally considered a nuisance in Cano's laboratory, is now the star athlete of his new venture, Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. Touting the motto "Bringing Good Things Back to Life," the business is a way for the avid environmentalist and beer lover to "have my beer and drink it too."
"Why waste good waste? [... ] The wastewater from beer production has a great deal of energy, therefore, potential to be reclaimed as biofuel,” said Cano.
(calpolynewslpoly.edu)
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