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Ancient Yeast Reborn

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I'll be driving right through Manteca tomorrow, but don't know if I"ll have time to stop...their website says their beer is bottle-conditioned, so it can't be pasteurized, right?
 
I have to admit that I love poking around the more obscure sites on the internet when I have an odd moment or two to do so. It turns out that the amber that the 45 million year old yeast was extracted from was deposited in the Eocene Epoch, which according to Wikipedia...
Marking the start of the Eocene, Earth heated up in one of the most rapid (in geologic terms) and extreme global warming events recorded in geologic history, called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum or Initial Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM or IETM). This was an episode of rapid and intense warming (up to 7°C at high latitudes) that lasted less than 100,000 years [2]. The Thermal Maximum provoked a sharp extinction event that distinguishes Eocene fauna from the ecosystems of the Paleocene.

The Eocene global climate was perhaps the most homogeneous of the Cenozoic; the temperature gradient from equator to pole was only half that of today's, and deep ocean currents were exceptionally warm.[3] The polar regions were much warmer than today, perhaps as mild as the modern-day Pacific Northwest; temperate forests extended right to the poles, while rainy tropical climates extended as far north as 45°.
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So, this yeast is primed and ready to be happy and healthy in the coming Global Warming, when it comes.... ;D
 
I dunno..with the sun going on as it has been the last couple of years, I don't think we can count on any global warming any time too soon. :)

Anyone called or e-mailed to see if the beer's available?
 
This is so cool! Too bad they don't ship bottles of it! I want this yeast! It would be so good in metheglins! Or BRAGGOTS! Might have to vacation to California sometime. :)
 
I figure if this venture goes the same way as their original attempts at starting a brewing business (the 1997 fiasco), he's going to eventually want to get something out of the effort - and may be willing to sell his yeast directly at that point.

If you read the entire history of this yeast discovery, he tried unsuccessfully before to get a brewing enterprise going that used his yeast. Now he's partnered with two more established brewpubs, but since the data on the Fossil Fuels website seems to indicate they expected to launch to wider distribution in "the summer of 2008" this venture may be headed toward the same end. From combing Kelley's website, I didn't see the Fossil Fuel Amber listed as one of the things currently on tap in Manteca, either.

Those scientists trying to start businesses.... :rolleyes:

(I can say that - I am one!) ;D
 
wayneb said:
I figure if this venture goes the same way as their original attempts at starting a brewing business (the 1997 fiasco), he's going to eventually want to get something out of the effort - and may be willing to sell his yeast directly at that point.

If you read the entire history of this yeast discovery, he tried unsuccessfully before to get a brewing enterprise going that used his yeast. Now he's partnered with two more established brewpubs, but since the data on the Fossil Fuels website seems to indicate they expected to launch to wider distribution in "the summer of 2008" this venture may be headed toward the same end. From combing Kelley's website, I didn't see the Fossil Fuel Amber listed as one of the things currently on tap in Manteca, either.

Those scientists trying to start businesses.... :rolleyes:

(I can say that - I am one!) ;D
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Hahaha. He should know who shares wins! Maybe if he was more inclined to share his yeast I'd be more inclined to buy his beer! He probably does have alot more money in yeast production as opposed to the novelty beer thing. He should strike a deal with Lallemand.
 
wayneb said:
Darn!! I wish that I'd had some of this strain when I put my "Wolf Moon" together.... :sad11:

Ah, well. Somebody will likely propagate it and sell it commercially eventually. ;)
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Oskaar was a microbiologist at one time -- if the two of you could team up with several chunks of amber containing fossilized insects . . . ;D

My guess would be that the yeasts fermenting the Jiahu brew would have been introduced by the grapes or hawthorne berries. Nine thousand years is a long time with plenty of room for genetic changes, but if someone could collect indigenous yeasts from the Jiahu area, could come fairly close . . .

Just wondering out loud, kind of fun even though I can't forsee a trip to China by anyone on these boards in the near future. ;D
 
Dan, I think its a great idea. Do you think anyone at National Geo would entertain a proposal to venture into the Jiahu province indigenous forest, grassland, or whatever the heck is indigenous over there, to collect yeast spores? Maybe they have some amber over there, too....

;D
 
Darn, I was in China last summer. Next time my brother goes out there I'll see what I can do. You'd need a whole bucket of sanitizer though. If you think the public bathrooms are dirty in this country, you don't want to even think about the hotel rooms there. :o
 
wayneb said:
Dan, I think its a great idea. Do you think anyone at National Geo would entertain a proposal to venture into the Jiahu province indigenous forest, grassland, or whatever the heck is indigenous over there, to collect yeast spores? Maybe they have some amber over there, too....

;D
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They just might. Take a handpicked team of Got-Meaders, get together for briefing, visit the University of Pennsylvania museum to meet with Dr. McGovern, then off to China. A tour of the Jiahu site, then a harrowing trip to collect spores. Back to the inner recesses of Oskaar's lab to cultivate samples, then start brewing.

A name? Dare I say it? The G-Force. ;D ;D ;D
 
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