A Norse classic: Wassail

Despite past impulses to dump lumps of coal into the cocktail glasses of family and friends, many of you will still host a holiday party this year. If you're smart, you'll give this gathering some thought now, so you can match the onslaught of holiday cheer with libations that satisfy imbibers with a taste for tradition and those after something a little different.

Classic cocktails, like some hosts, lose much of their charm around the holiday season. Imbibers opt for drinks more reminiscent of warm tea than crisp, biting aperitifs. Yet, as we all know, there's a reason these rabble-rousers aren't drinking tea, and for gatherings after Halloween, the old Norse concoction Wassail (pronounced "WAHS-uhl" or "WAHS-ayl") hits the spot.

Named after the traditional Anglo-Saxon toast "Waes hael," meaning "be in good health," this punch dates back hundreds of years and is the predecessor of America's unabashedly trite Egg Nog. Nowadays, Wassail is most often served on Christmas Eve to caroling imbibers, but even the likes of Beowulf and King Arthur relied on this drink for courage throughout the year. By Shakespeare's time, "The Wassail Song" had appeared, though trust me that the tune is far from impressive.

A blend of eggs, baked apples, winter spices, sugar, and any number of spirituous beverages, Wassail tastes somewhat like the holiday beers popularized by microbreweries. But this drink has more tooth than any I've ever run across. Admittedly, I've never tasted an authentic Wassail, but I do recommend a very explicit and enjoyable recipe for this beverage from David Embury's 1961 book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.

For the sake of mild authenticity, prepare Wassail over a fire in a cast-iron pot deep enough to hold 2 gallons (a stove-top will do if it must). Boil 8 ounces water, a tablespoon powdered nutmeg, 2 teaspoons ginger, 6 cloves, 1/2 teaspoon mace, 6 allspice berries, and a stick of cinnamon. After about 2 minutes, add 2 pounds sugar, 4 bottles of sherry or madeira, and cook slowly as you core and bake a dozen apples. Next, beat separately the yolks and whites of 12 eggs, and fold together. Put the beaten eggs in a large bowl, and slowly add small quantities of the heated wine-and-spice mixture. Stir each addition briskly. Once the brew has been thoroughly mixed, add the baked apples to the now-foaming mixture.

By this point, most of the alcohol in the wine will have cooked off, so some Wassailers add a bit of brandy, beer, cider, wine, or a mixture of them to the bowl before serving. Charles H. Baker, author of the Gentleman's Companion from 1934, suggests that "Stout hearts add a tumbler full of good cognac to the whole; since sherry itself isn't potent enough to make any Saxon defend his native land, much less a 20th century Wassailer." If you do add cognac, do so just before mixing in the apples. When adding beer, cider, or wine, mix in the liquor after adding the apples. If both beer and wine are used, cook the spices and sugar in 16 ounces beer. Then, combine with the remaining beer and sherry, using 1 part sherry to 3 or 4 parts beer. Serve hot in warmed Irish-coffee mugs.

Wassail should be presented in a large bowl. In true Norse tradition, it should be carried into a large banquet hall with great fanfare and singing. But because of the large amount of Wassail, serve it during the afternoon, so guests can enjoy it late into the evening. The eggs in Wassail keep its life short, so invite a worthy crowd that's willing to help you reach the bottom of the pot.

In this country, Wassail caught on only in the most northern states. Perhaps it had something to do with the angry colonists rebelling against their forefathers. In any case, Americans do enjoy a descendant of Wassail - Egg Nog - though it's rarely recognized as such.

Wassail recipe card