The Clover Club Cocktail is truly magnificient cocktail. This drink has all elements of great classic cocktail – the interesting story, simple and elegant composition and it is almost forgotten.
This cocktail was created (as Albert Stevens Crockett specify in his Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) or The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book (1935)) in the early 20th century in the bar of the Bellevue-Statford Hotel, Philadelphia which hosted Clover Club – the community of the lawyers and writers from Philadelphia.
Common recipe of Clover Club Cocktail include gin, lemon or lime juice, grenadine or raspberry syrup and egg white. Sometimes addition of the sweet vermouth or fresh raspberries is recomended. The Clover Club Cocktail has no garnish. If you garnish this drink with three mint leaf it morph into Clover Leaf Cocktail.
I use recipe from one of my favorite book –The Essential Cocktail by Dale DeGroff for my first Clover Club Cocktail:
Clover Club (The King of Cocktail)
45 ml gin
20 ml simple syrup
20 ml fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. grenadine
white of 1 small egg
In a shaker mix gin, syrups and juice. In a small bowl lightly whip the egg white and add a half the whipped egg white to the shaker. Shake vigorously – hard and long to emulsify the egg. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
I omit the whipping of the egg white and use “dry shake” for preparing of this cocktail. Dry shake is interesting method of preparing cocktail with great amount of the eggs or heavy cream. First shake all ingredients in shaker without ice. You may add in a shaker a spring from hawtorn-strainer during first dry shake for best results. Then add ice and shake again very hard.
This my first Clover Club Cocktail is awesome drink. Actually it was love at the first sight sip. Certainly I explore this cocktail in original version from the Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock. I tasted this cocktail with berry-grenadine and raspberry syrup also lime and lemon juice.
Clover Club (Savoy)
50 ml gin
the juice of 1/2 lemon or of 1 lime
25 ml grenadine (or raspberry syrup)
egg white
Shake well and strain into medium size glass.
This cocktail are excellent with berry-grenadine. I prefer the Clover Club Cocktail with fresh pressed lemon juice. Juice a lime or lemon for this cocktail carefully. I think that essential oil of citrus skin is over this cocktail.
Actually I tested about twenty Clover Club Cocktails. My Ultimate version is:
My Clover Club
50 ml gin
25 ml fresh lemon juice
25 ml simple syrup
2 dash berry-grenadine
30 ml egg white
Shake all ingredients thoroughly. Serve in the wineglass.
Use good gin for best results. You may use in this cocktail homemade grenadine or raspberry syrup for great drink. Be carefully with raw eggs. Actually the quality fresh eggs are so safety, but you should wash the egg, keep refrigerated and keep your equipment and ware clean. Also I recomend to read good post about this cocktail and raw eggs by Robert Hess.
The Clover Club Cocktail is outstanding, awesome and fascinating mixed drink. Literally.
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