Aldi Holiday Wassail Review

A hand holding a two quart plastic bottle of Aldi Holiday Wassail spiced punch on a wooden table.

Here I come, a-wassailing….

If you’re like me, “wassail” is only something you know about from Christmas carols and movies. I’ve had my share of spiced apple ciders and festive punches, but never any actual “wassail.” So, here’s my total newbie take on this variant from Aldi Nature’s Nectar store brand.

A glass mug of hot spiced Wassail from Aldi, sitting on a wooden table.

Historically, “wassail” is a hot, mulled punch — usually with a cider, wine, or mead base of some kind. Originally, wassail involved apples, and included citrus, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It was used as a good-will toast, in singing and drinking rituals, and sometimes as a door-to-door holiday well-wishing. Thanks Wikipedia!

Not gonna lie, I’ve secretly always wanted to go “a-wassailing.” But I live in Florida, and that’s definitely not a “thing” here.

Well, it’s the sort of “thing” you’d read about Florida Man doing while carrying a live alligator and stealing garden gnomes.

Aldi Holiday Wassail beverage in a glass, held by a hand in front of a window.

This Aldi version of Wassail is a deep reddish-pink color, and doesn’t taste as fruity as I expected. The first two ingredients are water and sugar, but it also includes juice concentrates, such as apple, cherry, lemon, and black currant. Compared to apple cider, it seems thinner, and has no discernable texture. It’s sweet, but light-tasting. The label says it is 21% juice.

Overhead view of a glass full of pink spiced juice beverage from Aldi's Holiday Wassail.

I love the spice flavor, which includes cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, orange, cardamon, and ginger — but there’s also “natural flavor,” which might be giving the slightly odd aftertaste. If you don’t like clove or cardamon, this may not be the beverage for you — I adore both of these, so I was delighted.

How to Serve Aldi Holiday Wassail

I tried this two different ways: chilled, and hot. I liked it best chilled — it tastes pleasantly sweet and spicy, although it awkwardly straddles a “juice” and “not juice” identity. It reminded me a little bit of a flavored iced tea, except there was no tea, and no caffeine kick. I really wanted more juice taste, I guess. As a hot beverage, it was “ok,” but the thinner consistency wasn’t as satisfying as most hot apple ciders. Maybe I’ve just been drinking especially thick apple ciders, IDK.

A glass with Aldi Holiday Wassail spiced punch, and a bottle of Fever Tree Ginger Beer, sitting on a table in front of a window.

I tried mixing this with ginger ale (more specifically, a Fever Tree Ginger Beer), and that was “nice.” The ginger ale dilutes the spice taste, which made it less exciting, but the fizzy-hot ginger carbonated taste was a fun combination. This isn’t very important, but diluting it with ginger ale makes it a light pink, which is not as festive as the red color it appears in the bottle.

Overhead view of a glass mug with spiced Wassail beverage from Aldi, garnished with cinnamon sticks and sliced fruit.

If I was serving this at a party, I might buy a frozen juice concentrate — perhaps orange or cranberry juice — and add it to the punch to thicken it and increase the “fruit” taste. I’m personally a teetotaler, but if I wasn’t, I’d probably want to add some alcohol to this. It just seems to need a little something “extra,” I guess. I made mine fancy with some cinnamon sticks and dried persimmon slice.

Nutrition Facts and Ingredients from the label on a bottle of Aldi Holiday Wassail.

Nutrition Facts and Price

There are 8 servings per 32 ounce bottle of 8 ounces each. There are 130 calories per serving, and 33 grams of sugar, of which 28 are added sugars.

My 2-quart bottle cost $2.99 at my local Aldi, which is a “good” price. Per serving, that’s about 38 cents.

The label recommends using within 7 days of opening the bottle. Unopened, mine expired about 8 months after purchasing.

Ingredients in Aldi Holiday Wassail

I love that there are no artificial flavors or colors in this beverage. I also love that it is not sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, but rather sugar and fruit juices.

Here are the ingredients:

Filtered Water
Sugar
Apple Juice Concentrate
Citric Acid
Cherry Juice Concentrate
Lemon Juice Concentrate
Black Currant Juice Concentrate
Cinnamon Extract
Nutmeg Extract
Natural Flavors
Clove Extract
Orange Extract
Cardamom Extract
Ginger Extract

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Author’s note: I have no affiliation with Aldi, and I wasn’t compensated in any way for this review.