Clover Club Cocktail – A Couple Cooks

Try the classic Clover Club cocktail! It’s tangy and bright pink, with raspberry or grenadine syrup, gin, and an egg white foam on top.

Here’s a sophisticated classic cocktail that steals the show: the Clover Club! This bright pink drink stems back before Prohibition, but it’s just as en vogue today. Sweet raspberry or grenadine syrup combine with zingy lemon and gin to make a perfectly balanced sweet tart drink. The best part: a classic egg white foam gives a creamy body and frothy texture to each sip! This one’s a unique gin cocktail that’s just plain fun.

What’s a Clover Club cocktail?

The Clover Club cocktail is a tangy gin sour cocktail that was first recorded in print in 1908. It was named after a gentleman’s club in Philadelphia called the Clover Club, which included prominent lawyers, writers, and politicians. Later the drink fell out of fashion, but it’s come back in style today with the revival of classic cocktails! Interestingly, the drink was originally made with grenadine but today is made with raspberry syrup.

This drink is a classic cocktail on the list of International Bartender Association’s IBA official cocktails, meaning it has an official definition. The ingredients in a Clover Club cocktail are:

• Gin
• Raspberry syrup or grenadine
• Lemon juice
• Egg white

How to make raspberry syrup

By 1917, recipes for the Clover Club started to include raspberry syrup, though the drink was originally made with grenadine. You can buy it at a liquor store or online, but it’s more fun to make it at home! Here are the basic steps to homemade raspberry syrup:

• Place 1 cup sugar and ½ cup water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook about 1 minute until the sugar dissolves.
• Add ½ cup raspberries and cook until the berries break down, about 5 to 6 minutes, turning the heat to low when it starts to boil. Break down the berries with a spatula as needed. Once fully liquid, strain into a jar using a fine mesh sieve and a spatula. Allow to cool. Store refrigerated for up to 3 weeks: the flavor is best when it’s fresh.

What else to use it in? Try raspberry cocktails like the Raspberry Martini, Raspberry Lime Rickey, and Floradora.

Or, make it with grenadine!

Many cocktail connoisseurs will tell you that it’s not a Clover Club unless it’s made with raspberry syrup. But in our research we found a recipe for the Clover Club was printed in the Pittsburgh Press in 1909*. The ingredient list included an egg white, lemon, lime, gin, sugar, and “a pony of grenadine.” Yes, that’s right: grenadine was included in the original version of the Clover Club cocktail!

Grenadine is a sweet tart syrup used in cocktails that’s bright red in color. It’s easy to find, which is why it’s a nice alternative for the Clover Club. You also don’t need to find fresh raspberries to make syrup, or look for specialty raspberry syrup at the store. A few things about grenadine:

• It made with pomegranate. Many people think it’s cherry flavored, but it’s actually made from pomegranate.
• You can make it at home. Try our homemade grenadine! It’s easy to make an has none of the artificial colors and additives.
• It’s used in other popular cocktails. It’s most famously used in grenadine cocktails like the non-alcoholic Shirley Temple, the Singapore Sling, and the vibrant Tequila Sunrise.

*Per The Last Night on the Titanic by Veronica Hinke

How to make a Clover Club cocktail (basic steps)

Once you’ve decided on grenadine vs raspberry syrup, making a Clover Club cocktail is a breeze! Here are the basic steps (or jump to the recipe):

1. Dry shake: Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Shake for 15 seconds without ice.
2. Shake: Add ice to the cocktail shaker and shake again for 30 seconds.
3. Strain: Strain into a glass and garnish. Voila!

What’s a dry shake?

Bartenders have added egg whites to cocktails since the 1860’s. Why? They add a frothy texture to each sip, and a creamy rich flavor. The best frothy egg white form is achieved by doing what’s called a dry shake. You’ll use this in lots of classic cocktail recipes with egg whites like the Gin Fizz, Amaretto Sour, and Boston Sour. Here’s how it works:

• The first shake without ice lets the protein in the egg begin to form foam, instead of being diluted by the ice.
• The second shake with ice cools the drink and strengthens the foam. Strain it into the glass and you’ll get a thick, white frothy layer.

Types of gin

The general rule around gin cocktails: the better the gin, the better the drink. Try not to buy the cheapest gin you can find for the Clover Club. We recommend investing in a mid-price range gin: the drink will only taste as good as the gin you invest in. Here are a few tips for choosing a brand of gin:

• Malfy, Aviation, and Beefeater London Dry have a developed, botanical flavor that blends well in cocktails.
• Locally distilled gin is a great option. In Indianapolis, we like 8th Day Distillery, Hotel Tango, and Hi & Mighty Gin.
• Steer clear of strong-flavored sipping gins in cocktails. For us this includes brands like Tanqueray gin (very floral) and Opihr gin (spice-forward). These types of gin can overpower the subtlety in many mixed drinks.

When to serve a Clover Club cocktail

The Clover Club cocktail is a stunning signature pink drink! It’s great for special occasions since it uses a specialty ingredient, or use grenadine to make it anytime. Drink it as a:

• Happy hour drink
• Dinner party drink
• Late night drinks drink
• Guys or girls night drink
• Cocktail hour drink

More sour cocktails

The Clover Club is a sour cocktail: one in the family of drinks that combine liquor, citrus, and sweetener. Here are a few more related sour cocktails: