The Clover Club is a pre-Prohibition gin sour — gin, lemon, raspberry, and egg white — shaken to a pale-pink drink under a dense white foam. It took its name from the Clover Club, a gathering of Philadelphia writers, lawyers, and businessmen who met at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel around the turn of the 20th century. It appears in cocktail books by the early 1910s, fell into disrepute mid-century as too "pretty" to be taken seriously, and was brought firmly back by Julie Reiner, who named her Brooklyn bar after it in 2008.
Pink, frothy, and unapologetic — a standing rebuke to anyone who thinks "pretty" and "serious" were ever opposites.
History
The Clover Club was a real club — a group of Philadelphia journalists and professionals who met at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The drink named for them is in print by the early 1910s, appearing in Jacques Straub's Drinks (1914) among others, which places it firmly in the pre-Prohibition canon.
For much of the mid-20th century the Clover Club was dismissed as a frivolous, "girly" drink — a casualty of the same era that buried much of the classic repertoire. Its modern rehabilitation owes a great deal to bartender Julie Reiner, who put it back in front of drinkers and named her acclaimed Brooklyn bar, Clover Club, after it in 2008.
The Spec
It is a sour built on gin, with real raspberry for color and flavor and egg white for texture. The dry shake is what gives it the thick, lasting foam cap.
Real raspberry, not grenadine
The Clover Club lives or dies on raspberry. Use a proper raspberry syrup, or muddle a few fresh raspberries into the shaker and double-strain. Substituting grenadine turns it into a different, lesser drink — pink without the fruit.
The dry shake
Shake everything once without ice to emulsify the egg white, then add ice and shake again to chill and dilute. This two-stage shake builds the dense, glossy foam that defines the drink. A hard, long second shake is worth the effort.
The vermouth question
Some early recipes include a small measure of dry vermouth, which adds a faint herbal dryness; others omit it entirely. Both are defensible. Start without it to taste the raspberry clearly, then try a 1/4 oz split if you want more backbone.
Bottom Line
The Clover Club is a beautifully balanced gin sour that happens to be pink — tart, faintly fruity, and silky. Treat the foam and the raspberry with respect and it earns every bit of its comeback.