Friday, July 25, 2008
MEDIA ADVISORY/PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
Contact: Raul Cano, Cell: 805-748-9717
rcano@calpoly.edu

Learn By Brewing:
Cal Poly Professor Emeritus and Colleagues To Serve Beer
Made From 45 Million Year Old Yeast

TO: News Editors, Photo Editors, Assignment Editors and Reporters

WHAT: Cal Poly Professor Emeritus Raul Cano and colleagues are hosting a special event to unveil Fossil Fuels Beer, a unique beverage that uses ancient yeast as a key ingredient.

WHEN: Tomorrow, Saturday, July 26, 12:30 to 4 p.m.

WHERE: Kelley Brothers Brewing, 112 East Yosemite Ave, Manteca, Calif.

BACKGROUND:
In 1995, Raul Cano reported in Science magazine that he’d extracted living bacterium from a bee entombed in amber 25-45 million years ago. His research was a key inspiration for the “Jurassic Park” movies.

Now more than a decade later, the research of the renowned microbiologist and director of Cal Poly’s Environmental Biotechnology Institute (EBI) is playing a key role in an entirely unique venture – brewing tasty beer from prehistoric yeast plucked from ancient amber samples.

The fungus, originally considered a nuisance in Cano’s laboratory, is now the star athlete of Fossil Fuels Brewing. The firm’s motto is “Bringing Good Things Back to Life.”

“Why waste good waste? I’m hoping to use profits from beer sales to fund biofuels research at Cal Poly’s EBI. The wastewater from beer production has a great deal of energy, therefore, potential to be reclaimed as biofuel,” said Cano.

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Learn By Brewing: Cal Poly Professor Emeritus and Colleagues To Serve Beer Made From 45 Million Year Old Yeast

Learn By Brewing:
Cal Poly Professor Emeritus and Colleagues To Serve Beer
Made From 45 Million Year Old Yeast