Wassail

Wassail is a hot, spiced winter punch of mulled cider or ale sweetened with sugar and warmed with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, traditionally crowned with roasted apples that froth pale on its surface. Long the centrepiece of English Christmas and Twelfth Night festivities, it is ladled steaming from a communal wassail bowl and passed hand to hand with the old greeting waes hael — "be in good health". It is an alcoholic drink, and a fortifying one, often laced with sherry or brandy.