Beer, that’s good for you?

I’m back from my whirlwind trip of the south (or the upper south as some referred to it as) with 100’s of pictures and more knowledge about the making of bourbon than I ever thought I’d need to know. Overall, it’s a pretty interesting process, and soon you’ll know all about it too!

While I’m getting my images processed and posts written, I came across something that I just had to share. There’s a team of (young) students at Rice University in Texas who are trying to create a beer that mimics some of the properties that make red wine the boon to health that it is.

They’re attempting to grow a yeast with the anti-aging chemical found in red wines, called resveratrol, during fermentation, and then use that to make their “BioBeer“.  Resveratrol is already found in low levels in hops, and the boys and girls (undergrads – some of them are not even legally allowed to try their creation!) are simply trying to magnify that.

Resveratrol is mainly found in red wine, (in the skins of grapes, which are left on to make red wine) and also in small quantities in some berries and peanuts.

The team has engineered yeasts to produce resveratrol, and they’re about to brew their first batch of BioBeer. This particular chemical in yeast is susceptible to oxygen and light, and so beer, the students reason, is one of the best carrier liquids for the chemical.

The BioBeer project is an entry in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition being held this weekend in Cambridge, MA. The event showcases student work in the field of synthetic biology.

Sounds complicated to me, but hey – if anyone can make beer good for you, sounds like it’ll be these guys. (Image Source: (CC) Rice University BioBeer Project)