---
title: "'Beer is live liquid dough': 30 years of Larisa Akulinova behind the fermentation tanks of AB InBev Efes Ukraine"
description: "Larisa Akulinova, brewing manager at AB InBev Efes Ukraine, told Wave RBC.UA about her 30-year journey from vat cleaner to creator of new beer varieties, the licensed production of Stella Artois in Ukraine, and the beer myths that need to be dispelled."
date: 2026-10-30T07:08:56.234Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/larisa-akulinova-ab-inbev-efes-brewing-30-years
tags: []
author: "Darya Fomina"
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# 'Beer is live liquid dough': 30 years of Larisa Akulinova behind the fermentation tanks of AB InBev Efes Ukraine

![Copper fermentation tanks and equipment inside the AB InBev Efes brewery production hall](https://xab.info/media/2026/10/30/larisa-akulinova-ab-inbev-efes-pivovarenie-30-let/larisa-akulinova-ab-inbev-efes-pivovarenie-30-let-1.webp)

Brewing in Ukraine has long ceased to be an exclusively male profession. Behind a modern brewery stand not only recipes and copper vats, but also dozens of technological solutions that determine the taste of the finished drink. On the eve of Food Industry Worker's Day, Wave RBC.UA spoke with Larisa Akulinova, a brewing manager at AB InBev Efes Ukraine, who went from a student washing vats with mops to a participant in creating new beer varieties for one of the world's largest brands.

### From placement to manager: 30 years in the fermentation shop

Larisa Akulinova has been working in brewing for over 30 years. She came to the Kharkiv brewery as a student: at that time, a distribution system was still in effect, and after technical college, it was necessary to work for three years at a food enterprise. "My mother suggested I study at the technical college, which was near home. I planned to work for three years and then look for another profession. But I became interested in the beer production process itself, how it is created. It's a kind of live liquid dough; you need to treat it responsibly, with soul," she recalls. In 2007, Akulinova obtained a higher education degree at the National University of Food Technologies in Kyiv for further career growth.

She started from the very bottom — washing vats. "Before, you would come as a student and start from the bottom. As we were told, learn the hardest processes. There was no talk of automatic washing back then — everything was washed by hand with mops and brushes," she says. She worked in this position for about six months, after which she was promoted to shift supervisor. Akulinova spent nine years in this position. Even after the enterprise became part of Interbrew (later AB InBev Efes Ukraine), the position of "technologist-brewer" did not exist in the staffing table. Her career was built in a chain: shift supervisor, two years in support, then manager. Today, Akulinova officially holds the position of brewing manager at the Chernihiv branch and is actively involved in the department responsible for the creation and development of new varieties.

### How a new variety is created: from a marketing request to a fermentation vat

While previously Akulinova would receive a finished recipe that only needed to be adjusted for a specific production, today she creates it almost entirely herself. "Marketing sends a request, and we select the composition, develop the fermentation recipe, and create new varieties," she explains. A key role in this process is played by what she calls her "little children" — yeast. "They are stubborn and moody; they need to be cared for and provided with comfortable conditions. When they are hot, they die; when they are cold, they get stressed and weaken. And this must be taken into account," the technologist emphasizes. According to her, beer is a living product, and much depends on fermentation conditions, especially the state and behavior of the yeast culture at each stage.

### Stella Artois in Ukraine: license, water, and Czech hops

One of the frequent questions the technologist has to hear is: "Why is the Stella Artois in Ukraine 'not the same'?" Akulinova answers that the beer is brewed strictly according to the recipe that comes with the production license. The global quality service of all licensees regularly monitors the process: every six months, the Ukrainian division sends samples of the finished product, as well as samples of raw materials and the water used, for analysis to a central laboratory. There, the products are tested according to a complex system of criteria and tasted. "In fact, only the water and malt are different. And this is natural because every country has its own water and malt taste. We use Ukrainian borehole water and malt that is grown and produced in Ukraine from globally approved barley varieties. Our malt meets the same highest quality standards as in other countries. And we use the same hops as in the Belgian 'Stella' — Czech and German," Akulinova explains.

### 'A person in a skirt': how a young woman earned the trust of a male team

When Akulinova was 21 and became a shift supervisor, her subordinates included men aged 40–50. "They didn't trust me, they didn't really listen, and that was the hardest part. Sometimes I would come home after work and cry because I couldn't find an approach to my colleagues," she recalls. Over time, her colleagues saw that although she was young, she was often right. "Then they started approaching me and asking for my opinion. I realized that I had managed to win over the staff. If a team is moving in the same direction, you can achieve anything. And in Kharkiv, I had the nickname 'a person in a skirt'," she laughs. This experience, according to her, shaped her management approach: authority in the fermentation shop is built not on position, but on knowledge of the process and respect for people.

### Large breweries versus craft and myths that need dispelling

In the interview, Akulinova also touched on the topic of differences between the approaches of large industrial breweries and craft ones. Large-scale production, according to her, relies on standardization, a global quality control system, and recipe reproducibility across different sites. Craft breweries, conversely, allow freedom for experimentation and local specificity, but are not always able to guarantee taste stability from batch to batch. Among the myths that the technologist has to debunk are the perception of beer as a simple "drink made of hops and barley," the underestimation of the role of water and yeast, and the persistent opinion that "real beer" can only be brewed in Europe. According to Akulinova, Ukrainian raw materials — water, malt, hops — allow for reproducing world recipes at the highest level, and technology and quality control do the rest.

## Fact-Check & Sources

- [Профессия – пивовар. Лариса Акулинова из AB InBev Efes Ukraine об эстетике пива, трендах вкуса и мифах, которые время развенчать](https://wave.rbc.ua/ukr/taste/profesiya-pivovar-larisa-akulinova-ab-inbev-1793283416.html) - Подтверждено по источнику wave.rbc.ua