Traditional Irish Lambswool: Roasted Apple Ale Recipe

Lambswool, often written Lamb’s Wool, is a traditional wassail drink made from spiced ale or cider and roasted apples. The name may come from the drink’s pale, frothy surface, which can resemble lamb’s wool, or, as suggested by Richard Cook in 1835, from a corruption of an older festival name, La mas ubal — “the day of the apple fruit” — which he reported became pronounced as lamasool and later Lambs Wool. The drink is an established part of English festive and orchard customs and remains associated with wassailing and Twelfth Night celebrations.

To place Lambswool in context, Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary (1756) defined wassail broadly as “a liquor made of apples, sugar, and ale; a drunken bout; a merry song.” The word wassail itself comes from Old English wæs (þu) hæl, roughly “be healthy” or “be whole,” a sentiment that survives in the modern phrase “hale and hearty.” The earliest written records of formal wassail payments date to the late 15th century (around 1486–1493) at St Mary De Pre Priory in St Albans.

LAMBS WOOL (Robert Herrick, 1648)

Next crown a bowl full
With gentle lamb’s wool:
Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,
With store of ale too;
And thus ye must do
To make the wassail a swinger.

Tasting notes: Warm Lambswool presents a comforting balance of apple, ginger and ale (or cider). When shared outdoors during wassailing the drink feels more vigorous; beside the fire it tastes mellow and fruity. The baked apple character and gentle froth are the defining features.

Lambswool Recipe

Note: Regional practice varies: use either traditional ale or cider. Ale-based versions are generally considered older. Following earlier sources, this recipe mulls the spices in the ale (or cider) first, then adds the roasted apple pulp.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 1.5 litres (three 500 ml bottles) of traditional real ale or traditional cider
• 6 small cooking apples, cored (Bramleys work well)
• 1 whole nutmeg, freshly grated
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 150 g brown sugar (demerara)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 120°C. Prepare the apples so they will be ready when you finish the spiced ale.

Core the apples fully and remove the seeds. Lightly grease a baking tray and arrange the apples about 6 cm apart so they can expand. Bake at 120°C for about an hour until the apples are soft and pulpy and the skins come away easily.

In a tall, heavy-bottomed saucepan add the brown sugar and cover with a small amount of the ale or cider. Heat gently and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the ground ginger and grate in the whole nutmeg. Keep the pan on a low simmer and slowly pour in the remaining ale or cider. Let the spiced drink warm for about 10 minutes while you finish the apples.

Remove the baked apples and allow them to cool for about 10 minutes. Peel or split them, scoop the soft flesh into a bowl and mash with a fork into a smooth purée while still warm. Discard the skins. Stir the apple purée into the spiced ale or cider and continue to warm gently for 20–30 minutes so the flavours meld.

Before serving, whisk or use a stick blender briefly and vigorously to froth the drink; the mashed apple will rise with a light, wool-like foam. Traditionally, drinks were also aerated by pouring between two jugs. Ladle hot Lambswool into heatproof mugs or a communal bowl. Finish with a dusting of grated nutmeg. For wassailing, place toasted rustic bread in the bowl and pass it around, or dip toast pieces in the drink to hang in the branches as an offering.

Wassailing – The Practice

Wassailing is traditionally performed on Twelfth Night (either the modern 5 January or the old 17 January). A thick slice of toasted rustic bread is placed in the bottom of a communal bowl before pouring in the prepared Lambswool. The bowl is carried out to the orchard or garden, often with torches and noisy instruments, to awaken and bless the trees.

Participants make noise and light to drive away unwelcome spirits, crying “wassail! wassail!” or singing traditional rhymes. People beat tree trunks with sticks, splash trunks with Lambswool, and hang toast dipped in the drink in the branches as an offering. After everyone has drunk from the communal bowl, a little of the soggy toast and Lambswool may be poured around a tree’s roots as a blessing for the coming year.

Two traditional wassail verses often sung at apple trees include:

“Apple tree, apple tree, we all come to wassail thee, Bear this year and next year to bloom and to blow, Hat fulls, cap fulls, three cornered sack fills, Hip, Hip, Hip, hurrah, Holler biys, holler hurrah.”

Or:

“Here stands a good apple tree, stand fast root, Every little twig bear an apple big, Hats full, caps full, and three score sacks full, Hip! Hip! Hurrah!”

Historical Notes and Variations

From ‘Oxford Night Caps’ by Richard Cook (1835)

Cook noted that Lambs Wool is a variety of the Wassail Bowl and related the name to La mas ubal. He described a simple preparation: mix pulp of roasted apples with raw sugar, grated nutmeg and a little ginger, add a quart of strong ale warmed, stir well and serve if sweet enough.

From ‘Cups and Their Customs’ (Porter & Roberts, 1863)

One period recipe repeats the familiar proportions: to a quart of hot strong ale add the pulp of six roasted apples, grated nutmeg, ginger and enough raw sugar to sweeten; stir assiduously and serve hot. The Wassail Bowl variation often includes sherry, additional beer and toasted bread slices floating in the mixture.

Unattributed recipe (1633)

An earlier formulation combined boiled ale with the pulp of roasted apples, beaten eggs, sugar and warm spices such as nutmeg, cloves and ginger, brewed together and drunk hot.

These historical notes show that the basic Lambswool concept — warm spiced ale or cider enriched with roasted apple pulp and sweetened — has been consistent for centuries, with regional and chronological variations in ingredients and presentation.