Can you find Moldova on a map?  Not surprisingly, most people around the globe struggle to place this tiny country of rolling plains that is sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine.  Moldova is primarily known for its wine and brandy, but there is a small, growing craft beer culture in this relatively unknown region. 

In July, two members of the Beer Culture Center’s League of Historians sat down with Serghei Litra of Litra Brewing Company in Chisinau, Moldova.  Serghei was the first craft brewer in the country and had an uphill battle working through layers of post-Soviet bureaucracy, financial constraints, and a cultural bias toward wine.  In the interview, he tells Mike Stein and Alison Orton about the long, winding path to open the door for craft brewers.  Following the interview, Serghei will be available via Zoom to answer questions. 

DeEva is a U.S. expat and co-founder and co-owner of Labrewtory in Chisinau, Moldova.

Serghei Litra is the founder and owner of Litra Brewing Company in Chisinau, Moldova.  He studied marketing and supply chain management in the UK and also spent four years importing and distributing German and Belgian beer in Moldova before he started his own brewery. When Serghei established Litra Brewing Company in 2013, he was the first craft brewer in the country.  His efforts paved the way for craft brewing in Moldova.

Bill Mahaffey is a U.S. expat and co-founder and co-owner of Labrewtory in Chisinau, Moldova.

Alison Orton is a member of the Beer Culture Center’s League of Historians.  Her dissertation examines the efforts of early nationalist activists in the Czech Lands and the United States to use beer as a tool to create national and ethnic identities among the working class during the years leading up to World War I and Prohibition.  Alison lives in Bratislava, Slovakia, where she teaches and travels around East-Central Europe, looking for the beer culture in each place she visits.

Michael Stein is President of Lost Lagers, Washington, DC’s premier beverage research firm. His historic beers have been served at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the Polish Ambassador’s residence. Senior Staff Writer and co-owner of DCBeer, he podcasts biweekly co-creating the DC Beer Show, and his work also appears in Washington City Paper. He is a James Beard Media Award winner thanks to his good friend, Jamaal Lemon, whose piece “Come Hell or High Water — Oysters, Brewing, and How the Come Yahs & Bin Yahs Could End Sea Level Rise in Charleston” won the Foodways category in 2023.