Like many professional brewers, Doug Zent started his career with a homebrew kit. But unlike most local beer makers, his journey has led to the opening of Victory Art Brew in Moscow, Russia.
A software engineer by training, Zent is slowly winding down his first calling to free up time for his new Russian project. And beer sales? Well, they’re booming, he said. Apparently our former Cold War rivals have the same thirst for craft brews that we do in the United States.
The Moscow connection began in 1996 at the urging of his sister, who was an assistant VP of a bank in Moscow at the time. He took some R&R time to visit her. The trip he said, completely changed his mind about the far-flung country.
“The Soviet Union had just broken up,” he recalled. “I was leery because of the news. The propaganda worked. I saw a different side of Russia [than what I had been told]. Totally by chance, I met my wife Viktoria.”
Upon a 2013 break from work in Dubai, and while dining in a Belgian-themed restaurant in Moscow, Zent noticed a beer labeled “Celebration Stout,” an American Oatmeal Stout.
As he had already learned, styles like that were rare in Russia. Really rare. Most Muscovites prefer light lagers and pilsners to stouts and IPAs. But here was a local brewery making some top-notch suds in a fashion that Zent was familiar with. He contacted the owners who were renting space for their small operation and proposed that the trio open their own brewery.
“It went that quick and that fast,” he recalled. “We ordered equipment and found a place we could rent. I got to see and touch the equipment before I had to fly back to the United States.”
His partners Eugene Tolstav, the operation’s brewmaster, and Dennis Kovalev are Moscow residents and graduates of the Moscow Institute of Mathematics and Physics. Over the past year and a half, the company has hired 20 employees and crafted 26 different styles of beer (all of which can be found on the popular beer app ‘Untappd’). When stateside, Zent keeps tabs on brewery operations through a custom app his partner created.
The software program, Zent said, allows him to observe nearly all brewery operations in real time and in detail, such as fermentation tank temperatures, specific gravity, brewing logs, inventory, clients, and packaging schedules. Victory Art Brew is currently working off two 8.5 barrel systems.
There’s definitely a craft beer movement happening in Russia, Zent said. Russian brewers share the same values (cooperation, using locally sourced ingredients, handcrafting taprooms) as their American counterparts.
Russian craft beer drinkers are adventurous. Zent and is partners have brewed several smoked beers using locally abundant Birchwood. A recently brewed smoked pumpkin ale (with a recipe developed from his Fort Worth brewing buddy Brandon Martin) drew some funny looks from his comrades who rarely had the quintessential American holiday dish. The next venture for the brewery is barrel aging. It’s a technique that can be tricky, Zent admits. Even famed brewer Adam Avery told him as much on a recent visit to The Fort. The barrels can leach too much alcohol, leak valuable product, or the whole thing could get infested with the wrong kind of microbes.
“We have already collaborated with Brewfist, an Italian Craft Brewery,” he said. “And are planning another with the ex-brewmaster of Norway’s Nogne Craft Brewery. Hopefully, we will do one with a Texas brewery in 2016.”
Collaborations are a win-win for both groups, he added, and don’t always involve other brewers. Past partners include the Swiss Short Film Festival, Russian power metal band Epidemia, and even a local barber shop.
The craft beer’s growth is a worldwide phenomenon, he said. It’s also taking off throughout Europe, South America, and parts of Asia.
“This whole movement is magical,” he said. “I grew up here in the states. I saw the craft beer happen even in the recession. We’re seeing the same thing happen in Russia.”
On Tap this Week:
Dagwood’s Fire Grill Tap
You definitely want to check out this new brewpub for the food as well as the subs. I was impressed with the first incarnation in Ridgmar, and I noticed the original location and new West 7th branch now offer far more local brews (a big plus in my book). Lauren Phillips reviewed all the goodies you’ll want to chow down on in his recent article. The beer selection is Texas-centric and won’t disappoint.
Dagwood’s Fire Grill Tap
843 Foch St., 682-841-0472
Wonderful article. Mr. Zent surely seems to know his beer. A real asset to the craft beer community.