The Hailstorm , or Hail-Storm, is a popular American drink of the early nineteenth century whose general makeup—spirits, sugar, ice—is as clear as its precise details are elusive. The first printed recipe for it came only in 1913, a good eighty years after its first known appearance, in an 1833 newspaper. There, it is presented as a potent Virginian eye-opener, but no further detail is given, nor are the other contemporary sources much more helpful.
There were, we can nonetheless say, two schools of thought as to the Hailstorm’s composition. One considered it synonymous with iced Mint Julep. Thus the correspondent to the Others, however, imply that there was some difference between the drinks, for example, the Irish actor Tyrone Power, who in 1836 dubbed the New York innkeeper Cato Alexander “foremost among cullers of mint, whether for julep or hail-storm.” See Alexander, Cato. On the other hand, the 1913 recipe suggests the distinction is that the Hailstorm is made like a julep, but without mint. In any case, the drink was not recorded by Jerry Thomas or any of the other important nineteenth century mixographers, and by the end of the century it had joined its contemporaries the Pig and Whistle, Moral Suasion, and Tip and Ty in the file of curiosities and mysteries. See also julep and mixology, the history of. “Our Staunton Correspondence.” New York Family Herald, September 26, 1860, 7. Power, Tyrone, Impressions of America. London: R. Bentley, 1836. “Virginia Hospitality.” Alexandria (VA) Gazette, July 16, 1833, 5. Williams, Martha McCulloch. Dishes and Beverages of the Old South. New York: McBride, Nast, 1913. By: David Wondrich