Clover Club Cocktail

The Clover Club Cocktail originated at the Philadelphia men's club of that name in the early 20th Century.  The cocktail grew to be wildly popular for a short time before Prohibition put a damper on the raspberry/gin party.  It lingered on in the dusty pages of old cocktail books and in lists of ladies drinks (it is pink in color).

I have seen a mild comeback for this drink on craft cocktail bar menus, so things are looking up for Clover Club Cocktail after a long slumber.  It's a solid cocktail that I would choose over a similarly colored Cosmopolitan.

The dry shake is used to thoroughly break up the egg white.  And according to Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash you can use either lime or lemon juice for the acid in this drink.  I slightly prefer lime juice so I have prescribed it in the recipe.  Feel free to try lemon juice if you wish (or both).

I make my own single strength raspberry syrup - click on it for the recipe.  If you got your syrup at the store you may need to tweak the quantity used to balance this cocktail (try backing off to 2 tsp for a double sweet 90 calorie/oz syrup).

One variation of a Clover Club Cocktail is a Clover Leaf.  The only change is garnishing with a mint leaf (slap it first to release the oil).