Among the Christmas tunes that inspire quizzical looks and questions of origin (right up there with “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth”), “Here We Come A-Wassailing” is a classic, and carries perhaps the best answer. The word functions as both a verb (“to wassail” is to sing a toast of health, often while travelling door-to-door to annoy as many people as possible with your cheer) and a noun (a mulled wine or cider).
| Just for fun: Here We Come A Wassailing – Take a listen: |
For the sake of clarity, Washington Post reporter Scott Vogel makes a riotous little trip along the Monticello Wine Trail with his family to get the straight story on the drink at the word’s center. Documenting his travels in the Miami Herald, Vogel and his family (including a particularly garrulous mother) hit vineyards from Burnley to Barboursville, ending their tour at Keswick with a glass of syrah and the word from a sommelier that wassail is “spiked apple cider, I think.” Proof that wassail is, indeed, the ideal drink for a family holiday: Both involve a lot of unexpected ingredients and, ultimately, are things you probably wouldn’t enjoy during most other times of the year.
Previous "This Just In" articles from this week:
Mallek to appoint Loach [December 21]
Incoming County supervisor gives nod to one-time opponent.
Meth-odical police work [December 20]
Feds convict 24 in meth bust
Local food conflagration [December 20]
Dairy barn at Kathryn Russell’s Majesty Farm burns down
You’ve got a friend in Virginia [December 19]
AG thinks guns in D.C. is a wonderful idea
Starr Hill to go national [December 18]
Local brewery signs distribution deal with Anheuser-Busch
One vote for solid waste [December 18]
Four other potential voters abstained
An executioner’s song [December 18]
New Jersey abolishes death penalty
