The rakiya holds the key to friendship, because it is the guardian of words and secrets, writes the winner in the competition for essays on the history of Bulgaria's most popular drink "rakiya". Vessela Karamanova, a journalist from the town of Yambol, was awarded together with her runner-ups at a stylish ceremony at Nike Gallery in Sofia November 11. The contest, launched a month ago at the initiative of top local producer of alcoholic drinks Vinprom - Peshtera, attracted more than 1,200 Bulgarians. Their essays were assessed according to four criteria - originality, personal standpoint, facts and structure. Experts from the Education Ministry selected the best essays in the first stage of the competition, the top 36 were let to the final ranking.

Legend has it that the local production of rakiya started relatively late - in the fourteenth century. The spirit was brought to the Bulgarian land by the Turks. The Turkish word for rakiya is "rakh", which comes from the Arabian "arrak". Translated into English "arrak" it means "sweat", hard alcohol drink, produced from grapes, pears, plums, apricots, etc. The name was given to the drink because of its yellow colour and bitter-hot taste.

The rakiya is a traditional beverage in Bulgaria, but we know so little about its history, Svetoslav Iliev, Marketing Manager of Vinprom - Peshtera said. When they ask me why we organized this competition I say that now it is Vinprom - Peshtera that writes the history of rakiya, he added. Vinrom-Peshtera is a leader among Bulgarian producers hard alcoholic drinks, top domestic exported of high quality wines to Japan, US, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, Belarus, Ukraine, Mongolia. International interest in the company's domestic market hit - the rakiya brand "Peshterska Muskatova" is tremendous.

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