Tsipouro Festival in Pelion

Tsipouro along with ouzo is the most famous beverage in Greece. It is produced since ages and can only be found in Greece. Tsipouro is made of grape pomace after a large process and is met across whole Greece. Tsipouro contains 40% - 45% alcohol by volume and comes in two main versions: with and without anise flavor. Tsipouro without anise remains transparent when dropped in a glass with ice while the anise-flavored becomes white and blurry when dropped in a glass with water or ice.
There are many celebrations dedicated to this famous Greek beverage. In Katihori of Pelion, a village near Portaria there is the famous annual feast of tsipouro called the “Tsipouro Festival”. The celebration takes place in late June every year in this village and not randomly. Katihori has marked a long tradition of distillation and vineyard cultivation through the years, and is famous for its exquisite quality of wine and tsipouro, a fact that makes it an ideal location for the realisation of such a feast. Over the years, and with the help of the locals who have placed a lot of effort and artistry in the tradition, Pelio’s tsipouro is marked as one of the best. However, since technological development has intruded on the sector of distillery, tsipouro distillers are trying to revive the tradition of distillery with this feast and retain the good quality of products.
During the feast, all necessary materials for the distillery of tsipouro are gathered in order to showcase its traditional production methods. Following this procedure, visitors are offered free tsipouro in the main square of the village and a big feast of dancing, singing and playing music follows for all attendees. The feast resembles a ritual in honor of the old tradition and certainly is a not-to-be-misses opportunity for all those who might happen to be in Pelion during the end of the next month.