What Is A Clover Club Cocktail?
If you love a light, easy to drink adult beverage (like the Paper Plane, our favorite!!), look no further than the classic Clover Club cocktail! It’s a shaken drink that combines gin, fresh lemon juice, raspberries, simple syrup, and an egg white. If you’ve never used an egg white in a cocktail before, you’re in for a treat! It becomes extremely frothy when shaken, and creates a light, foamy texture on the top.
This cocktail falls under the title of gin sour, and trust us when we say you need this in your life!
What Ingredients Are In A Clover Club Cocktail?
- Gin: We recommend The Botanist, which is a London Dry gin with subtle notes of juniper, zesty citrus, and a gentle spice. The original drink, however, was made with Plymouth style gin, so definitely experiment with different varieties!
- Fresh raspberries: Tart berries are muddled with simple syrup to sweeten the drink.
- Simple syrup: Helps to balance out the flavors of the gin and lemon juice with a little sugar. If you’re out of simple syrup, you can substitute with agave nectar in a pinch!
- Fresh lemon juice: The bright citrus flavor rounds out the flavor so the overall taste isn’t too sweet.
- A fresh egg white: The egg white doesn’t add flavor to the Clover Club cocktail, but rather acts as an emulsifier. When the drink is shaken and then strained into a glass, it’ll have that signature frothy, white foam on top.
You’ll also need a jigger for measuring, a cocktail shaker with a strainer lid or a fine mesh sieve, a muddler, and a coupe glass.
To make simple syrup at home, combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a small sauce pan. Heat without bringing to a boil until the sugar has melted. Store leftover simple syrup in a squeeze bottle or airtight container in a fridge. When sealed and stored in a refrigerator, simple syrup will keep for weeks.
Start By Muddling Raspberries
Some Clover Club cocktail recipes call for using raspberry syrup instead of fresh raspberries and simple syrup. You can certainly go that route, but we almost always have simple syrup and fresh berries on hand, so this is our preferred method.
What does muddling actually do? By mashing the fresh raspberries with simple syrup (or even lemon juice), you help to release the natural juices within the fruit. This helps to incorporate and distribute those berry flavors more evenly with the alcohol, making for a more pronounced flavor in the cocktail.
Origins Of The Clover Club Cocktail
The Clover Club cocktail is a pre Prohibition style gin sour cocktail that originated in a Philadelphia gentlemen’s club, which met in the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. It’s earliest record dates back to 1908.
Initially, the drink was made with grenadine, but we totally prefer the bright flavor from fresh raspberries.
By the 1950’s the drink had all but been pushed to the back of menus, almost disappearing entirely (having made way for a similar drink, the Pink Lady). Thankfully, everything that’s out of fashion comes back again, and the Clover cocktail seems to be here to stay! In fact, you could walk into just about any cocktail bar today and order it with no problem.
What’s A Dry Shake? Why Doesn’t This Recipe Call For It?
In a dry shake, a cocktail is shaken twice. The first shake happens with all the ingredients before adding ice. Once the egg white begins to froth, you add the ice and shake a second time. This creates a super luscious, foamy top.
You can totally do that here! We’ve found that if you simply add ice and shake for a good 20 seconds or so, you still get an extremely frothy top.
This is absolutely a classic cocktail that everyone should try at least once. You will love serving this at dinner party’s, happy hours, and every day in between!
If you make a Clover Club cocktail, please let us know by leaving a review and rating below!
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More cocktail recipes to try!
- Pomegranate Gin And Tonic
- Blackberry Basil Margarita
- Paper Plane Cocktail
- Campari Gin Fizz
- Pomegranate Tequila Cosmo
- Grapefruit Margarita
Clover Club Cocktail Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup fresh raspberries plus more for garnish
- ½ oz simple syrup
- 2 oz gin such as The Botanist
- ¾ oz fresh lemon juice about ½ large lemon
- 1 egg white very fresh
Instructions
- Muddle the raspberries. Place ¼ cup fresh raspberries and ½ oz simple syrup in the cup of a cocktail shaker. Use a muddler to crush the raspberries very well.
- Add remaining ingredients. Fill the shaker halfway with ice, then add 2 oz gin, ¾ oz fresh lemon juice, and one fresh egg white. Secure lid, then shake for 20 seconds to aerate the drink until the egg white is frothy.
- Strain into a chilled coupe glass, then garnish with additional fresh raspberries.
Notes
- To make simple syrup at home, combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a small sauce pan. Heat without bringing to a boil until the sugar has melted. Store leftover simple syrup in a squeeze bottle or airtight container in a fridge. When sealed and stored in a refrigerator, simple syrup will keep for weeks.
Nutrition
Photography by: Pate of The G&M Kitchen
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