This recipe comes from the gross overabundance of Wassail made by my mom- the
real cook of the family- for a funeral reception for a late great lady in our
neighborhood who spawned a now famous local parade and festival. No one at the
funeral was told about the supposed reception down in the basement so somehow
we got stuck collectively with about 6 gallons of non-alcoholic Wassail punch
mixer. The following is nearly the same recipe my mom used with the exception
of the red hot candies (a good idea courtesy of an internet recipe), and to
which i liked to add a sprinkling of cardamom seed pods:
1 (46oz) can of each of the following:
orange juice
apple juice
pineapple juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 T. whole cloves
6 sticks cinnamon
1/2 cups red hot candies
1 tsp. allspice
Combine and heat.
This base wassail recipe is great as mixer with most types of dark liquor:
Bourbon, Rye, Brandy, and Rum. I found the rum by itself though to be too
cloyingly sweet, so i concocted this rum punch recipe from what i had in my
fridge:
In a tall Glass with Ice add:
1/2 oz. Limoncello
3-4 shots of Rum (Bacardi Gold for me, but light or dark works as well)
3 dashes Angostura Bitters
Equal parts Wassail (see recipe above), and Ginger Ale till almost full
1 dash of grenadine floated on the top
Stir vigorously and serve.