“We’re hoping to get some carolers!” says Jenifer Dean, who is looking forward to Wassail. “That’s the whole idea: a complimentary cider tasting for anybody who comes in and sings carols.”

Ms. Dean has been the cider maker at the County Cider Company for over 25 of the business’s 30 years. She’s also Managing Director.

Wassail, a traditional harvest festival, also extends the shoulder season for cideries and wineries as the year comes to a close. “Because there are more and more people discovering the County it’s definitely a nice thing to have all these different events. It has a good effect, certainly for the County as a whole. We just have to rely on the weather to be nice!”

Speaking of the weather, Wassail is the traditional time for wrapping up the farm. It is also a time to reflect upon the success of the past season. “In terms of our apple crop it was a really good season. A lot of our apples are biennial which means the trees only produce every other year. This was a year where they were all producing and we had a really good crop. A lot of them did start dropping early which meant we had to start picking sooner.”

As a cider maker, Ms. Dean feels a special connection to the ancient origins of Wassail. “It was originally a celebration for apples in the orchard, held over the twelve nights of Christmas. You would dress up and go out in the orchard and hang toast in the trees soaked with cider as an offering to the gods for a good harvest for the next year.”

“And sometimes you might have Morris dancers dancing around and people would bang pots and pans. There’s all different kinds of little traditional things that you could do for Wassail as an evening event as well.”

Things may have changed a bit, but the spirit still remains.

Ms. Dean promises special features for the modern festival. Her offerings include cherry bourbon cider, an apple cider mixed with sour cherry juice with hints of smoky bourbon. A matching treat will be Savory S’mores. “We have fire pits, we have the marshmallow toasty sticks, but you melt cheese over the fire like you would a marshmallow and add some red pepper jelly and some little pieces of salami between the crackers and eat it up the same way you would have a regular S’more.”

County Cider has one of the best views in Prince Edward County, sure to inspire some wonderful wassailing this year.