clover club

2 oz Plymouth Gin
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Raspberry Syrup (Housemade)
1 Egg White
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Shake all ingredients first without ice and then with. Strain into a wine glass.

For my second drink at Green Street last week, I asked Emily to make me the Clover Club off of their long cocktail list. Despite Andrea commenting that it was my second sweet pink drink of the week, bartender Andy McNees supported my choice and commented that it was his absolute favorite sweet egg drink. Moreover, Paul Clarke's article traces the history of the Clover Club back to a gentleman's drink. One reason I chose it was that Andrea abhors raspberry syrup so I knew that it was a drink better ordered out than prepared at home if I ever wanted to try one. The Clover Club recipe appears many places including Stanley Clisby Arthur's Famous New Orleans Drinks & How to Mix'em. Their version is lime juice and appreciates the extra added "ummph" that the dash of Peychaud bitters gives the drink and that Green Street chose to include in their recipe. Stanley also chastised the popular shortcut of using grenadine instead of raspberry syrup.

In this Clover Club, the raspberry flavor was strangely shaped by the egg white and lemon juice into something less berry flavored. The lemon and egg white hid the sugar content decently when the drink was cold but as the drink warmed up the sweetness became more apparent. Despite the drink's pink color, I could easily understand how the Clover Club was the signature drink of writers and lawyers at the Philadelphia club before Prohibition.