photo of a Maiacetus inuus fossil display Early Whale Fossil Display This is not the fossil from which paleo beer will be made. It's from the same family as the beer fossil, but not the same genus or species. Photo by Cliff on Flickr, CC BY 2.0
Posted on 04/19/2014 2:41:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The beer will be called Bone Dusters Paleo Ale (Hardy har har [Okay, actually, "paleo ale" is pretty good]). The yeast come from the surface of one of the oldest marine mammal fossils ever discovered in the western hemisphere. The idea for the beer came from Jason Osborne, who co-directs a nonprofit dedicated to advancing paleontology and geology. A paleo beer, Osborne thought, would be a great hook to interest non-scientists in fossils. I think many non-scientists are quite interested in fossils already, but I cannot argue against a paleo beer.
Will whale-fossil beer really taste that different from other brews? Perhaps not. The species of yeast Osborne and his brewing partners found on their fossil was the same species that commonly goes into beer, bread and even scientific studies. The yeast's scientific name is Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The whale-fossil S. cerevisiae might have drifted over from another lab, if there was a yeast lab nearby. Scientists consider such yeast domesticated, like dogs and sheep are. Like pets and livestock, people have bred and worked such yeasts for thousands of years.
Wild Saccharomyces cerevisiae also exist, however. This 2005 study found that wild S. cerevisiae live in fruit and mushrooms and in liquid exuded from oak trees. Maybe the paleo ale's yeast came from somewhere out there in the wild world. If so, it might be interesting. The study found that wild Saccharomyces cerevisiae have greater genetic variation than the yeasts that are associated with human breweries and human labs.
We cannot tell. Perhaps you can. Bone Dusters Paleo Ale will soon be served at the taproom of the Lost Rhino Brewing Company in Ashburn, Virginia, Symbiartic reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...
photo of a Maiacetus inuus fossil display Early Whale Fossil Display This is not the fossil from which paleo beer will be made. It's from the same family as the beer fossil, but not the same genus or species. Photo by Cliff on Flickr, CC BY 2.0
It’s just like the ale my grandpappy made.
I’m thinkin’ that this stuff might be what killed that whale. ;’)
Hmm...looks like it might have a little bite to it.
It left that fossil a shell of its former self.
So why was the whale drinking?
His wife.
He couldn’t chew, all his teeth had fallen out.
Kind of a “12 Monkeys” thing, but with beer and no extinction. Oh, and zombies. I like it.
I’ll leave the Paleo Ale to Pat Buchannen and his crew. I’m strictly a Neo Ale person.
For stone-aged guys, they sure had a lot of unexplained technology, like glassmaking...
40 million years, exactly? Not even a year more or a year less? There is no experiment that can prove the yeast was found on the bone and where it came from. This is just hype.
Beer and wet t-shirt contests do help attract new fans.
It could have killed off most of the fish, maybe even the dinosaurs.
(’:
And then they all began to change ...”
[Just to continue the storyline]
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