FIRST JOURNEYS - EASTERN EUROPEAN EXPEDITION- PIN 17 OF 17
STAROPRESTOLEN GIN, Bulgaria
A ROAD TRIP WHERE EVERY STOP HAS A STORY
Staroprestolen Gin is perhaps not the bottle you would expect to find on a serious gin enthusiast's must-try list.
At around £6 a bottle at the airport, this is most likely a mass-market Bulgarian gin rather than a small-batch craft spirit.
In fact, £6 wouldn't even cover the UK Alcohol Duty on a 70cl bottle at 40% ABV — that alone would currently be about £9.52. But sometimes the cheap bottles turn out to be surprisingly drinkable — and this one wasn't bad at all.
The gin comes from Vinprom Veliko Tarnovo, an established Bulgarian wine and spirits producer based in Veliko Tarnovo. Even the name ties it to the city: Staroprestolen means “Old Capital”, a reference to Veliko Tarnovo's role as the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire. So while the gin itself may be fairly straightforward, the name gives it a genuine connection to its home.
The recipe is built around familiar gin botanicals, with juniper, coriander and lemon accompanied by rose. That last ingredient gives it a particularly Bulgarian touch.
Bulgaria has a centuries-old association with rose growing, especially around the famous Valley of the Roses, and rose is one of the country's best-known exports.
It's not going to trouble the world's great craft gins, and it isn't pretending to. But that's partly why I like finding bottles such as this for the Gin Passport. Not every stop needs to be an award-winning micro-distillery or an elaborate botanical masterpiece.
Sometimes it's a bottle picked up at an airport, costing very little, that turns out to be perfectly pleasant with tonic — and carries a little piece of the place it came from.
Staroprestolen may be an inexpensive commercial gin rather than a craft product, but its connection to Bulgaria's old capital and its use of rose make it a worthwhile little stop on the map.
“Buying gin blind is always a gamble. Sometimes you get a howler. Sometimes you get lucky.”
"Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story."