This month debuts a different approach to the Beverage of the Month; a historical nugget of brewing that you can research and redact on your own. For a holiday-themed flavor, try Lamb's Wool!
A very preliminary bit of research suggests that this Wassail drink has its origins in the Irish harvest festival La mas ubhal, pronounced "lamasool" which then evolved to "lamb's wool". An out-of-period recipe from 1835 mixes roasted apples, nutmeg, sugar, ginger, and ale. The text suggests that it was an "ancient" Irish drink, which is enticingly described (but alas, not documented) by the commercial Irish Jewelry Company.
When you start to dig, you will find "drinkinge a cupp of Lammeswool to the Lambe of God" in a 1593 document. So with this in period reference, Æthelmearch brewers with an eye to competition (or just a tasty medieval holiday drink) are invited dig into the history of Lamb's Wool, and share your own Twelfth Night redaction!
With gentle lamb's wool
Add sugar, nutmeg and ginger,
With store of ale too;
And thus ye must do
To make a wassail a swinger
Researching Food History links this quote from Puck to an allusion to Lamb's Wool. This would add more in-period weight to the beverage.
And sometime lurk I in a gossip’s bowl
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 2 Scene 1 (1595)