64oz. fresh apple cider
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 oz. (generous 1/4 cup) Bisschopswijn Mulling Spices

Follow the non-alcoholic recipe brewing method. You may not need the additional sugar depending on the sweetness of your apple cider.

Go to your local orchard and pick up a gallon of fresh apple cider. There is nothing like the taste of hot spiced cider on a cool fall day. We make individual mugs of spiced cider in the microwave. We spice up the hot cider by putting Bisschopswijn Mulling Spices in a tea ball and letting it steep in the hot cider.

42 Cup Percolator Style Coffee Maker Method**

Two 64oz bottles of cranberry juice
6 cups apple cider
6 cups dry red wine
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup apricot flavored brandy
4oz. (1 cup) Bisschopswijn Mulling Spices

Combine the cranberry juice, apple cider and red wine in the coffee maker reservoir. Place the brown sugar and Bisschopswijn spices in the basket of the coffee maker. You may use a paper filter but it is not necessary. Brew the mixture. When the brewing is complete add the apricot flavored brandy. Pour the hot Bisschopswijn into mugs and serve with a Cinnamon Stir Stick. Makes twenty-eight 8oz. cups.

You can use the same recipe and brew the mixture in a large stock pot. Use the brewing method under the basic Bisschopswijn recipe.

This is still our favorite way to brew a batch of Bisschopswijn. We like the simplicity of this method. We also like the idea of the spices being constantly being basted by the hot liquid during the brewing process. Often you can use less spices when brewing with this method.

1 gallon apple cider
1 quart pineapple juice
1 can (6oz) frozen orange juice concentrate
¼ cup Bisschopswijn Mulling Spices

Place Bisschopswijn spices in a muslin steeping bag or large tea ball. Mix all ingredients in a large crock pot, add spices and simmer. Serve hot. Makes about 12 servings

Wassail (Middle English ‘woes hoel” – ‘be you healthy’) refers both to the salute ‘Waes Hail’ and to the drink of wassail, a hot mulled cider drunk as part of wassailing, an English ritual intended to ensure a good apple harvest the following year.  Historically, the drink is a mulled cider, mulled beer or mead, made with sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and topped with slices of toast – which were sometimes hung in the branches of apple trees.  A group then sings: “Old apple tree, old apple tree, we’ve come to wassail thee, to bear and to bow apples enow, hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full, barn floors full and a little heap under the stairs.”

Here We Come A-wassailing

As with most carols, there are several related versions of the words. One version is presented below, based on the text given in The New Oxford Book of Carols. The verses are sung in 6/8 time, while the chorus switches to 2/2.

1 cup instant tea granules
2 cups Tang, orange drink mix
2 teaspoons ground Bisschopswijn Mulling Spices
1 envelope powdered lemonade mix
1 1/2 cups sugar (or less)

Mix all together and keep in tightly covered jar. Use approximately two heaping teaspoons added to hot water for one cup of tea.