How to Make the Clover Club

The classic Clover Club cocktail is one of the prettiest classic cocktail in the oeuvre. You can’t miss this pink drink with its foamy top! Don’t be scared to make it at home, it is super easy and a perfect choice for raspberry lovers.

This pre-Prohibition cocktail has been around since the late 1800s and has seen a few rises and falls. The original recipe originated at Philadelphia’s Bellevue-Stratford hotel. It was named after the Clover Club gentlemen’s club where club member used to meet to chat about the worldy events. Needless to say, more drinking and less talking really took place.

George Boldt, the owner of the Bellevue, moved up to New York to head up the Waldorf Astoria where, the rumor has it, he took along the recipe and launched it at the bar there. It found its way onto the New York Press list of cocktails in 1901.

It fell off the map after the crowd disbanded and Prohibition came into affect in the United States. Then it popped up again in Gary Regan’s “Joy of Mixology.” However, this delicious cocktail came to everyone’s notice in the early 2000s when the cocktail legend, Julie Reiner, added it to her menu at her bar of the same name, The Clover Club in Brooklyn, New York City! Now it’s in all cocktail bars everywhere, thank goodness.

What goes into a Clover Club

You can make the classic Clover Club recipe using the following ingredients:

• Gin: The base spirit is gin. You can use any gin brand, but a good London Dry Gin goes best.
• Fresh Lemon juice: As this is a sour cocktail, we need the tartness of the lemon juice to cut the sweetness of the simple syrup. It adds freshness and a tang that balances out other ingredients’ flavor without making this drink too sweet.
• Fresh Raspberries or Raspberry syrup: Always use fresh fruit in the cocktail if you can or make your own raspberry syrup from either fresh or frozen raspberries. That fresh raspberry flavor adds so much to the cocktail
• Egg white: Egg white is an essential ingredient that gives the Clover Club cocktail its signature silky texture, creamy mouthfeel, foamy head. Use only the freshest raw eggs. (For vegans, you can use aquafaba!)
• Extra Raspberries: A few fresh raspberries on a skewer is the perfect garnish for this drink.

What tools you need to make Clover Club

You’ll need a cocktail shaker for this one! Grab a jigger, a barspoon, a strainer, a fine strainer and a chilled coupe glass for this Clover Club recipe.

• Step 1: Add fresh raspberries to the shaker with the simple syrup
• Step 2: Muddle them together
• Step 3: Then add the gin, lemon juice and egg white (or an ounce of aquafaba)
• Step 4: Shake, shake, shake – this is the dry shake!
• Step 5: Then open the shaker and add ice cubes
• Step 6: Shake again!
• Step 7: Then use a fine strainer to strain it into a chilled cocktail glass and you’ll see the white foam!
• Step 8: Garnish with raspberries and serve. Bottom’s up!

You can use raspberry syrup if you don’t have fresh raspberries. Add 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water to a pot. Stir until the sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add 1/2 cup of fresh raspberries, and crush. Let sit until cooled and then strain to remove the seeds.

• 🍸Top Tip(le): When making the Clover Club, keep these few things in mind:
  • Although raspberry syrup is super easy to find or to make, if you don’t have it at home, you can use Raspberry puree, raspberry jam or even grenadine syrup in its place as well.
  • Most people like to add dry vermouth to this drink for a kick.
  • If you don’t have gin, you can use vodka or tequila as well.
  • Always use a pasteurized egg when using fresh eggs!

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Where to find more gin cocktails

Here are a few of my favorites:

• How to Make the Dry Gin Martini
• How to Make the Tanqueray Negroni
• How to Make the Gin Sour
• How to Make the Gin Fizz

 Plus more fruity recipes here

Here is the recipe!

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