Farewell to a Friend: d.b.a.’s Dennis Zentek Celebrated in Memorial Service

When d.b.a. co-founder Dennis Zentek died suddenly last month, we were in shock. Beer Sessions Radio™ host Jimmy Carbone had been working with Dennis and he was scheduled to be on the podcast on Heritage Radio Network later this spring. Thus, it was with heavy heart that we attended his memorial service this past Wednesday at d.b.a. (East Village) and neighboring Marble Cemetery on a beautiful cold day with cherry blossoms harkening new life despite the sadness of the ceremony taking place.

For our friends at d.b.a., the loss of Dennis is profound, coming less than three years since d.b.a. co-founder (and former Beer Sessions Radio™ co-host) Ray Deter passed away in a biking accident. Ray mentioned Dennis often on the show, but our favorite memory was from our inaugural episode, where Ray talks about how he and Dennis came up with the scheme that created one of New York City’s best beer bars (you can listen in on how Ray and Dennis founded d.b.a. about 1:43 into the podcast here).

Many of the remembrances of Dennis can be found on d.b.a.’s Facebook page, including this beautiful memory from Dennis’ brother Ron:

“Those of you who knew my brother, or just knew of him from me or one of the posters below will remember him as a unique individual whose greatest pride was saying he never worked a day in his life since as a Rock n Roll photographer, a bartender and finally a bar owner he was being paid for being at places he would have been anyway doing things he loved to do surrounded by beautiful women.”

Indeed, Dennis took many photographs of famous musicians, and in 1994 launched d.b.a., in part, to offer women a comfortable, higher-class bar in which to hang out and imbibe. But it’s the many friends that remain behind that are the true testament to Dennis’ reach.

We would personally like to thank the following GBS bars, friends of Beer Sessions Radio™, and various beer makers and distributors for their help at Wednesday’s memorial:

Joe Carroll of Fette Sau/Spuyten Duyvil
Anthony Malone of Swift Bar
Sam Barbieri of Waterfront Ale House
Tommy Harder of Blind Tiger
Meghan Connaire of Jimmy’s No. 43
Pat Fondiller of Smuttynose
Lucien Bistro
Plus brewers Abita, Anchor Brewing, Brooklyn Brewery, Coney Island Brewery, Palm, Rodenbach, and Sly Fox for donating kegs to toast Dennis the way he would have liked, by “drinking good stuff.”

We know that Dennis has been reunited with Ray and they will be drinking the good stuff together, reminiscing on their all-too-brief but profound impact on the craft beer world.