The Clover Club cocktail is one of those great classics. It looks like a modern drink but is traced back to the late 1800s. As always, the exact creation of the cocktail is a source of debate but mostly it is credited to the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. The story goes that the artsy patrons of the time gathered at the hotel to talk literature and politics and the like, and they enjoyed sipping on the signature libation of gin, dry vermouth lemon juice, egg whites and raspberry syrup. Sounds like a delicious gin sour with a fruity punch to it.
In some reports, The Clover Club lost favour with male drinkers when Esquire magazine branded it a drink for “pansies’. In their 1949 Handbook for Hosts it hides it among the Pink Ladies and Alexanders in the “Something for the Girls” section. But it never died out for good, because it’s a bloody delicious cocktail (and Esquire has since apologised!)
In some reports, The Clover Club lost favour with male drinkers when Esquire magazine branded it a drink for “pansies’. In their 1949 Handbook for Hosts it hides it among the Pink Ladies and Alexanders in the “Something for the Girls” section.
The late and great Gary Regan championed the Clover Club and featured in his cocktail tome the Joy of Mixology. Cocktail Bill Boothby’s World Drinks and How To Mix Them featured five variations of the Clover Club. In 2007 Dave Wondrich, wrote about The Clover Club (again in Esquire), and its triumphant return was sealed. Then, Legendary US Bartender Julie Reiner named her cocktail bar Clover Club, after the drink in 2008 and unsurprisingly it is now featured on menus around the world.
There are a number of Clover Club recipe variations – mostly when it comes to the use of raspberry or grenadine and the addition of dry vermouth. Tinker around and see what works for you. Call for grenadine in place of the raspberry syrup we’ve used here, and that makes a fine drink too. But with your own grenadine, the drink becomes a little moodier, a little rounder.
45ml Gin
15ml dry vermouth
15ml lemon juice
15ml raspberry syrup
Dash of egg whites
Shake all ingredients without ice,
then shake with ice,
and strain into a chilled coupe.
Garnish with raspberries.