Lee ellis of Midnight Sun Brewing in Anchorage, Alaska is our guest today. We learn about how Lee started his brewing career and fell in love with the state that he now calls home. Sustainability in Alaska isn't just a good idea, it's critical to survival and success. Access to ingredients for the brewing process is challenging and when you can get them, they are expensive. This means that operators of breweries need to think about how they can optimize their processes, reduce waste, and maximize yield using what they have. They analyze every part of the process from the utilization of grains, to shipping losses for the CO2 required to carbonate their beer, to the accuracy of the filling of cans. Lee discusses his extensive experience in addressing these challenges and how they tackled some of these difficult challenges. By using a brewery centrifuge (purchased from Alfa Laval, full disclosure - this is the employer of the podcast host) he was able to significantly able to improve yield, saving waste and providing more beer to sell for profit.

We talk about the challenges of a difficult economy and how they deal with it. Diversifying of products and distribution will be how the breweries will survive these challenges and sustainable practices are going to be a critical part of this as well.

Learn more about Lee and Alaska beer at:  midnightbrewingcompany.com  or Brewersguildofalaska.org

We close the show with recognition of the importance of gender equality - one of the UN's sustainability pillars -  as March is women's history month and March 8th is International Women's day.