The Clover Club is a pre-Prohibition Philadelphia cocktail that pre-dates the Cosmopolitan by a century and tastes infinitely better.
Why you are pouring this tonight
The Clover Club is a pre-Prohibition Philadelphia cocktail named after a journalists’ drinking club that met at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. Gin, lemon, raspberry syrup, egg white, shaken hard enough that the foam cap is thicker than the drink itself. It was the most-ordered cocktail in America for fifteen years and then prohibition happened and people forgot. Now it is the cocktail every neo-classical bar makes when they want to demonstrate that the bartender knows what they are doing.
The egg white is non-negotiable. Use a fresh egg, separate carefully, dry shake (no ice) for fifteen seconds first to build the foam, then wet shake with ice for another twelve. Use a London Dry gin (Beefeater is fine here, Plymouth if you want a softer drink). Real raspberry syrup, not the bar mixer kind: muddle five raspberries in the shaker first, then everything else. Garnish with three raspberries on the foam. Pair with goat’s cheese on toast, smoked salmon, anything cured.
What to pour it alongside
Goose canapes, smoked salmon, anything with cured meats. The raspberry and gin combination is also a classic match for chocolate desserts.
Notes
The egg white is non-negotiable. Use a fresh egg, separate carefully, dry shake (no ice) hard before adding ice, then shake again. Aquafaba (the liquid from a tin of chickpeas) works as a vegan substitute.
The recipe
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