How The Clover Club Cocktail Regained Its Popularity After Nearly A Century

With its ethereal pink color and cloud-like top layer, the Clover Club cocktail looks like a fairy tale in a glass. The standard recipe is a simple sour (spirit, citrus, sweetener) of gin, lemon juice, and raspberry syrup with the addition of egg white foam on top. Created in the early 20th century, the drink is a pre-Prohibition classic whose popularity started to wane. Today, it's experiencing a moment, much like the espresso martini has recaptured the public's taste buds. 

Invented at the men's club of the same name located in Philadelphia's Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, the cocktail was all the rage amongst the high-class gents who frequented the club. That is until it received a death knell in the 30s when Esquire magazine called it one of the ten worst drinks of the prior decade. Suddenly, no man would be seen with such a maligned cocktail in his hand. 

When the cocktail renaissance of the 2000s arrived, the hunger for classic cocktails grew. Ironically, cocktail historian David Wondrich included the Clover Club in an Esquire column in 2007. Then, in 2008, the drink was given even more exposure when bartender Julie Reiner opened the Clover Club bar in Brooklyn and featured a retooled version of the cocktail on the menu.

Referring back to the oldest print recipe of the drink, Reiner tempered the sweetness by adding dry vermouth whose botanicals complement the gin and add a layer of complexity. While variations exist, start with a base of 1½ to 2 ounces of gin, ½ ounce each of lemon juice and raspberry syrup or jam, and one egg white (approximately ½ ounce).

As with any cocktail, when you're making a drink, consider your base spirit first. In the case of the Clover Club, it's gin. Today's selection of gins is massive with styles ranging from juniper-forward to aged to more floral. The Clover Club needs a classic, London Dry style of gin, whose defining ingredient gives it that herbal flavor — and those juniper botanicals don't get lost with the astringency of the lemon and the sweetness of the raspberry.

You should always use fresh-squeezed lemon juice for the most vibrant flavor. And, while bottled raspberry syrup is available in a pinch, homemade tastes best. Combine equal parts sugar and water, stirring until the sugar dissolves, and bring it to a boil. Off of the heat, add one cup of fresh raspberries and mash. Let everything mingle together for at least an hour, and then strain everything to remove the seeds and pulp.

Finally, let's consider egg whites in your cocktail. In order to create the voluptuous texture, you want to dry shake all the ingredients without ice first in order to emulsify them. Then, add your ice and shake again until chilled. When you strain the mixture into a cocktail glass — a coupe is the most elegant — the egg white will float to the top creating a cozy blanket of snow-white foam. Top your velvety dream with a couple of skewered raspberries and take a sip.