Siberian Soul Beer From The Gelios Brewery

When asked what makes Gelios Brewery beers special, Sales Manager Anna Barannikova does not hesitate to answer: “We put our soul into them,” she says with an easy smile.

Standing in front of a trophy case packed with international beer awards, Barannikova describes employee pride in Gelios beers and their admiration for General Director Vladimir Smirnov, who has managed the brewery for more than 45 years. Since founding the brewery in 1968, Smirnov successfully steered it through the changing times of Soviet communism, market capitalism and current international competition to consistently produce quality beers. Today, the family-owned Gelios in Bratsk, Russia serves up high caliber brews to grateful beer drinkers across Siberia. 

Making good beer never hurts, but Smirnov offers another perspective on Gelios’ success. “It’s our people,” he writes on the company website. “They were there for me when it was tough. And I will be there for them now.”

Today the brewery employs about 500 people from this industrial town north of the Irkutsk, most of them women. Among those people, Olga (last name unknown) serves as the brewmaster. With 19 years of brewing experience, Olga runs the tidy, well-managed factory from a high-tech office where she commands ingredients, temperatures, times, and people to hit the brewer’s mark every time.

However intangible, the soul method of beer making seems to be working. Today the Gelios Brewery produces 15 kinds of beer using natural ingredients, and modern technology mixed with traditional brewing methods learned from Czech and German masters. The Russian brewery proudly adheres to the Bavarian Purity Law defined by German brewer Vilgelem IV in 1516. Popular brands today include Moralavia, Cselke, Bruderlich, and Prado beers brewed from traditional European recipes and pure water from the nearby Bratsk reservoir downriver from Lake Baikal. Local beer drinkers also enjoy several versions of Bratskoe light and dark beers. 

The brewery uses the best natural ingredients purchased from international suppliers. It selects three types of malt seeds from Germany and the Czech Republic and grows them in Russia.  Whole hops come from Germany, and yeast from Denmark. Brewers may also add rice and sugar to make dark and strong beers. Other ingredients may include flavoring, heading agents, and preservatives. The result is 15 light and dark beers that have won many prestigious international awards, including “Golden Palm” (Nice), “Golden Mercury” (Amsterdam), “Knights of Malta” (Malta), and the aptly named “Large Golden Plate” (Tel Aviv). Beers range in alcohol content from four to five percent and include filtered and unfiltered brands.

Gelios has weathered several challenges to the integrity of their beer making process. In Soviet times about 4,800 breweries operated in Russia. Today less than 200 remain. Competition increased in the 1990s with the appearance of large-scale, internationally funded breweries such as Baltika, but the quality of Gelios beers set them apart in the Siberian marketplace and the small brewery successfully competes against larger companies. Still, the beer climate can be frigid.

In 2010 Russian authorities imposed a 30% tax increase meant to reduce alcohol consumption. The new law squeezed profits and challenged the brewery to reduce costs and modify brewing methods, but Smirnov and his team held out and refused to compromise the quality of the Gelios brand.  They resisted temptations to use less expensive syrups and extracts to lower prices and stayed true to a formula for success: traditional methods with modern equipment.

Smirnov also struggled against beer counterfeiters who poured cheap beers into Gelios kegs in attempts to sell inferior products under false labels. “We have always fought, and are still fighting, for the quality of our products,” he writes on the company website. A company slogan captures the Gelios brewing philosophy as “A better way, instead of somehow.”

This philosophy also extends to plant equipment. The brewery buys the latest technologies from the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Italy to brew, store, and package beers in bottles and kegs. Gelios’ fully automated factory allows brewers to adjust production to meet market demands and stay nimble in a competitive marketplace. The brewery produces about four million liters of beer each year and in brewing processes that take from 30 to 120 days. As a responsible corporate citizen, the brewery disposes starch byproducts to animals on a company owned farm near the factory. The company also sponsors a nearby clinic for employees. Who says old communists can’t learn new tricks? 

Customers purchase draft beer or “live beer” from local shops equipped with kegs and taps.  Draft beer sells for about 100 rubles ($ 2) per liter and customers bring their own jugs or containers to the shop. A 16-ounce bottle of beer sells for about 50 rubles. In addition to their taste for draft beer, Russians like to drink beer with smoked fish and local shops also sell smoked salmon, perch, flounder or other species. Other Russian beer drinking traditions can be summed up in the saying: “Beer without vodka is like money to the wind.” 

With a successful formula that combines classic methods with new technologies, the Gelios brewery nailed the sweet spot among Siberian beer makers. Moreover, this proud brewery in Bratsk serves as a reminder of how international cooperation and shared expertise binds together a global community of beer drinkers that appreciate a quality beer with soul. But for thirsty locals, the company motto sums it all up: “There will be peace in Bratsk, if you just drink Bratsk beer.” So be sure to visit the Gelios brewery next time you’re in Siberia. на здоровья! (to your health!)