Raul Cano, a professor in San Luis Obispo, has created a beer using yeast he harvested from a 45 million year old sample of fossilized amber. Cano apparently considered creating bread with the unique yeast strain, but decided beer would be more fun. We happen to agree.Along with a few partners, Cano has founded a local brewing company, appropriately named Fossil Fuels Brewing Co., producing about 20 barrels a month according to SanLuisObispo.com. Fossil Fuels currently offers a pale ale, with plans for an amber ale and an Oktoberfest brew in the future.
However, the star of their lineup is their wheat beer. The beer has been described as having a "light copper color with an intense clove aroma" not unlike a German hefeweizen, according to the Oakland Tribune's William Brand. The ancient strain of yeast is also special in that it produces a very clear, crisp ale without all of the traditional cloudiness found in traditional wheat beers.
More info in Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. can be found on their website, www.fossilfuelsbrewingco.com.