Hail Storm

History

"Hail Storm" is a drink recorded in Martha McCulloch-Williams's "Dishes & Beverages of the Old South" (1913), and it is four lines long: "Mix equal quantities of clear ice, broken small, and the best lump sugar. Cover the mixture fully with good brandy, put in a shaker, shake hard five minutes, then pour into glasses, and serve with a fresh mint leaf floating on top."

It sits in the book immediately before her mint julep, of which she writes that it "requires the best of everything if you would have it in perfection. Especially the mint and the whiskey or brandy." The two are plainly kin — the hail storm is the shaken, ice-heavy one, named for what it looks like in the glass.

The historical record does not document a specific earlier origin for this particular drink beyond its appearance here.

McCulloch-Williams was a white writer born near Clarksville, Tennessee, who grew up on a plantation before the Civil War; the book's dedication is "to our Mammys," and much of the cooking it records is the work of enslaved and formerly enslaved Black women it does not name.

Ingredients

• clear ice
• lump sugar
• brandy
• 1 leaf fresh mint

Instructions

1. Mix equal quantities of broken small clear ice and best lump sugar together. Cover the mixture fully with good brandy. Put in a shaker and shake hard for five minutes. Pour into glasses and serve with a fresh mint leaf floating on top.