Cal Poly biological sciences professor, Raul Cano, extracted 45million-year-old yeast from amber back in the ’90s. Since then, his dream of making the yeast a main ingredient in beer and selling it to the public has become reality.
In 1995, Cano was researching the survival of bacteria in amber containing a preserved bee, and among the bacteria he studied there happened to be a few yeasts.
“At the time we were studying the long-term survival of bacteria … the yeast was just serendipity,” Cano said.
While conducting the research, Cano realized some of the yeast from the amber resembled brewer’s yeast.
“We noticed the resemblance (of the yeast) so we started looking at it, and the rest is history,” Cano said. “We were focused on using it for products that were commercially valuable products that come from this organism.”
When thinking of products with yeast as an ingredient, bread, wine and beer are three that come to mind.
“This (yeast) was more suitable for the beer so we pursued that,” Cano said.
Cano attempted to create the beer using the million-year-old yeast back in 1995, as well as multiple times after that, but it was not until 2006 that his idea truly came to life.
“Things fell through the cracks and that’s always the story with funding,” Cano said. “When I met Chip Lambert, he was intrigued by the whole idea and he actually was the one who talked me into doing it again.”
When the two met, Lambert was the director of research at a biotech company. The two were introduced and became good friends, Lambert said.
“We decided to form our own biotech company and then formed an environmental studies company,” Lambert said. “Then in 2006 we had a client and asked if they’d brew beer with 45 million-year-old yeast and they said yes.”
Finally, Cano, Lambert and Scott Bonzell, an attorney from Oakland, started up Fossil Fuels Brewing Co.
The beer debuted in 2008 at a launch party at Kelley Brothers Brewing Co. in Manteca, Calif. where the beer is produced.
“We had a couple of other important people as well — Peter Hackett, who brewed the first commercial batch and Joe Kelley who is now the brew master for our beer in Manteca,” Cano said.
The beer has been made available mostly in Northern California, but is also served locally in San Luis Obispo at Gennaro’s Grill and Garden.
Biological sciences junior Mark Perez said he thought it was about time beer and science were combined.
“It just further reinforces the ‘learn-by doing’ motto that we have here at Cal Poly, to have a professor here that made something so unique is good press,” Perez said.
The beer, which is called ‘the 45-million-year-old beer’ on the Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. website, is said to be incomparable with any other beer out there.
“It doesn’t really compare to any beer,” Cano said. “Its flavor, other people say, it could be something like Blue Moon but it’s kind of unique because it is a combination between Hefferveisen and a Belgian style.”
In addition to the flavor, the color of Cano’s creation is a little different from traditional wheat beer.
“Usually wheat beers are cloudier than the beer that we brew and it may be a function of the yeast or it may be a function of the recipe — we don’t know for sure,” Cano said.
Currently, Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. offers a wheat beer, which tastes similar to Belgian beer with some clove and a little fruitiness to it, Cano said. However, the company is looking to expand into other types of beer in the future.
“I believe that we are going to look at new styles of beer,” Cano said. “So we would like to expand the numbers of beer that we sell from wheat to an IPA, to an amber ale, to a pale ale. We are going to start experimenting with different recipes.”
Although Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. is not yet at the status of companies like Anheuser-Busch, Lambert said he hopes others realize they have produced a good beer and their company can continue to be successful.
“The company is growing in the number of customers and that is the bottom line — it grows almost daily,” Cano said. “We sold more beer today than yesterday … we will get there eventually if the beer is good and we do it right.”
Perez, who also does research with yeast at Cal Poly, said Cano deserves “props” come his way.
“I bet it was hard as hell with a ton of trial and error,” he said. “This is some Jurassic Park type shit.”
Although Cano will not resurrect any dinosaurs, he does plan to keep the yeast alive for years to come.
“I’m just a microbiologist, so I am just a keeper of the family jewels,” Cano said. “I maintain the yeast and make sure that they are pure and there are no troubles with the quality of the yeast product. If I do (my job) right, the yeast will never die.”
With yeast that will never run out, Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. will be able to continue selling its special beer.
“We are all just living the dream,” Lambert said. “The main goal of our company is to keep having a lot of fun and sell premium craft beer.”