Clover Club
A creamy, pink classic of gin, raspberry and lemon under a silky egg-white foam.
Ingredients
- Gin, London Dry or Plymouth for good balance45 ml
- Dry vermouth15 ml
- Lemon juice, freshly squeezed15 ml
- Raspberry syrup, homemade if you can, for the best flavour and colour15 ml
- Egg white, about a quarter of an egg white, for foam and texture8 ml
- Raspberry, fresh raspberries to garnish (or a lemon twist) (optional)3 whole
Method
- Make the raspberry syrup ahead if you like: simmer a punnet of fresh raspberries with roughly a cup each of caster sugar and water for ten minutes, then strain and chill.
- Add the gin, dry vermouth, lemon juice, raspberry syrup and egg white to a shaker without ice.
- Dry-shake hard for 10–15 seconds, so the egg white emulsifies into a stable foam.
- Add ice and shake hard again for 10–15 seconds to chill and dilute the drink.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe.
- Garnish with fresh raspberries or a twist of lemon peel.
About this drink
The Clover Club was born around the turn of the twentieth century at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, named after a gentlemen's club of journalists and businessmen who met there. It fell out of favour during Prohibition but has since returned as a symbol of the modern cocktail revival's love of balance and texture. Its sweet-tart profile and silky foam make it as lovely to look at as it is to drink.
Questions and answers
Can you make the raspberry syrup in advance?
Absolutely, and it helps: simmered syrup keeps for several weeks in the fridge, so you can make it the day before and simply shake the drink when your guests arrive.
Why do you dry-shake a Clover Club?
Shaking without ice first emulsifies the egg white into a stable foam; the second shake with ice then chills and dilutes the drink. Skip that step and the foam turns out thin and uneven.
Which gin suits a Clover Club best?
A classic London Dry with clear juniper stands up well to the sweetness of the raspberry syrup and the herbal notes of the vermouth. A very floral gin risks getting lost in the mix.
