ENDANGERED COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH-WASSAIL
By Pink Lady
At some point during my middle school years, I learned the lyrics and tune to the Christmas carol “Here We Come A-Wassailing.” It’s a fun song to sing, but I remember being puzzled by the lyrics: what even is wassailing? Turns out, it has a long, storied, boozy explanation! The term “wassail” is believed to have roots in the Old Norse expression “ves heill,” which became the Anglo-Saxon “was hael,” meaning “to be in good health.” Over time, this evolved into “wassail” and was originally a sort of salutation.
Wassail first appeared in print in the Old English epic poem Beowulf, which I believe I also encountered in middle school. Wassail became a drink to toast good health in the tale of a 5th-century Briton king in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s book The History of the Kings of Britain, circa 1136. In the tale, a Saxon mercenary’s daughter named Rowena greets Vortigern, King of the Britons, with a goblet of drink, wishing him “was hael,” to which he replies “drinc hael.” The two fall in love and marry — a classic meet-cute.
“Wassailing the trees” was a pagan tradition in the apple-growing regions of England and other parts of Northern Europe. Farmers poured cider and other spirits onto their fruit trees and sang songs, shook the branches, and made a general ruckus while sipping cider from a communal bowl in an effort to ward off evil spirits and ensure an abundant harvest. It was a popular Twelfth Night ritual that would eventually be subsumed into Christian traditions.
Wassailing made its way out of the orchard and into the town. In some regions of medieval England, tenants would gather at their landlord’s manor house for singing, revelry, and a drink of wassail, with the expectation that their generosity would yield goodwill for the year to come. As is often the case with large crowds, alcohol, and a grossly unequal societal structure, wassailing could turn rowdy or violent if the revelers were not satisfied with their bounty, leading to many stories of wassailing gone awry or perhaps pernicious from the start.
By the mid-19th century, when “Here We Come A-Wassailing” is believed to have been penned (if not long before), wassailing had become more of a neighborly pilgrimage with a tamer vibe. It was similar to the caroling we do today, but with a large bowl of communal beverage — a sort of “bring your own bowl” type of event.
Bring the tradition into the 21st century by mixing up some wassail at home this month. Whether you choose to bring your bowl around the neighborhood as you carol is up to you.
WASSAIL
6 apples, cored
1 CUP of brown sugar
4 cups of hard cider, crisp and
not too sweet
3 cups of ale
2 cups of oloroso sherry
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
1 teaspoon ginger, ground
2 cloves, whole
4 allspice berries, whole
PREP APPLES
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Put apples in a baking dish, and
spoon brown sugar into the core of each. Add 1/4 inch water to the bottom of the dish, and place in the oven until softened, about 45 minutes.
PREP THE WASSAIL
In a large sauce pot, add cider, ale and sherry. Place over low heat, and do not boil. In a square of cheesecloth, add cinnamon stick, cloves and allspice. Tie securely and drop into the warming pot
with nutmeg and ginger.
Add apples and baking liquid to the pot. Ladle into individual glasses, and garnish with an apple slice and a cinnamon stick.
