A feast of Pelin is held every year in the village of Zmeyovo in Stara Zagora on the weekend before Christmas. The feast collects producers who offer their own recipe variants of the drink and experts for evaluation of the produce by color, aroma, clarity etc.
Several are the key ingredients of traditional Pelin prepared in Zmeyovo. Above all, it requires old, homemade wine from last year’s harvest, which may be both white and red. The first Pelin was produced by Stoyan Naidenov, born in 1881, a local owner of a wine cellar, a shop and a tavern. He is the author of the original recipe for the preparation of the symbolic drink. In his memory, a memorial plaque was placed in his former shop.
