Gin · Sour · Sour
Clover Club Recipe
Gin, lemon and raspberry sweetness shaken silky with egg white — a pre-Prohibition Philadelphia original. Sweet-tart raspberry-pink over a base of dry gin and bright lemon, cushioned by a cloud of egg-white foam — gentler and rounder than a Whiskey Sour. Equally at home opening a dinner party or closing out a quiet night in.
- Prep Time
- 1.5 min
- Method
- Shaken
- Glass
- Coupe glass
- Strength
- Balanced
Every recipe on Sipped Right is tested for taste and balance before it's published.
Last updated October 20, 2026
About the Clover Club
The Clover Club is named for a Philadelphia gentlemen's club of journalists, lawyers and businessmen who met weekly at the Hotel Bellevue-Stratford from the 1880s until Prohibition; the cocktail itself — gin, lemon juice, raspberry syrup (or grenadine) and egg white — first appears in print around 1901 and was reportedly served at the club's own bar. By the early 1900s it had spread to hotel bars in New York, including the Waldorf-Astoria and the Plaza, before falling out of favor after Prohibition and drifting into obscurity for most of the twentieth century. Its modern comeback owes a lot to the Brooklyn bar Clover Club, opened by Julie Reiner in 2008, which took its name from the drink and helped bring it — pink foam and all — back onto menus everywhere.
Built on a 3:1:1 ratio of gin to lemon juice to grenadine, with a full egg white shaken in, which is what keeps the Clover Club a gin sour rather than a fizz — enough citrus and sweetener to round out the spirit, enough egg white to turn the top into that dense, rosy foam. It's a close cousin of the Jack Rose, which swaps in brandy and drops the egg white but keeps the same citrus-and-grenadine backbone.
Ingredients
- Gin1 ½ oz
- Fresh lemon juice½ oz
- Grenadine½ oz
- Egg white1
- Fresh raspberries, for garnish3
Method
- Add the gin, fresh lemon juice, grenadine and egg white to the shaker — no ice.
- Dry shake for 15 seconds to emulsify and build foam.
- Add a scoop of ice to the shaker.
- Shake for 15 seconds.
- Double-strain the cocktail into a chilled coupe glass.
- Garnish with three fresh raspberries, floated on top.
Glass & Garnish
Coupe glass, served up with no ice — the drink is fully diluted and chilled by the shake, and a wide, shallow coupe shows off the foam's pale pink head instead of burying it under ice. Chill the glass in the freezer beforehand if you can; a warm glass flattens that foam faster than you'd like. Garnish with a few fresh raspberries floated on the surface. It isn't just decoration: the berries echo the raspberry-pink hue already in the foam and hint at what's inside the glass, and because they sit gently on top rather than getting dropped in, they stay visible instead of sinking.
Notes
Grenadine stands in here for the traditional raspberry syrup — early-1900s recipes (Boothby's among them) called for grenadine and noted raspberry syrup as an equivalent, so the two have been treated as interchangeable since the drink's earliest days. Use a pasteurized egg white or 0.5 oz aquafaba if you'd rather skip raw egg.
Tools Used
Affiliate links
As an Amazon Associate, Sipped Right earns commission from qualifying purchases made via links on this website, at no extra cost to you.
FAQ
- Can I use raspberry syrup instead of grenadine in a Clover Club?
- Yes — swap it in at the same 0.5 oz measure. Raspberry syrup was actually the more common choice by the 1910s and gives a fresher berry flavor, while grenadine, the earlier and more traditional choice, leans sweeter and more tart.
- What's the best gin for a Clover Club?
- A classic London dry gin, like Beefeater or Tanqueray, gives clean juniper notes that hold up against the lemon and grenadine without getting lost in the mix. A softer, more floral or citrus-forward gin works too if you'd rather the drink lean gentler and rounder.
- Why does a Clover Club have raspberries on top instead of a lemon twist?
- The floating raspberries echo the drink's pink color and hint at the raspberry syrup or grenadine inside. Some bars also express a lemon twist over the foam first for aroma, then float the berries on top — either is traditional.
- Where does the Clover Club cocktail get its name?
- From the Clover Club, a Philadelphia gentlemen's club of journalists, lawyers and businessmen who met weekly at the Hotel Bellevue-Stratford from the 1880s until Prohibition. The drink was reportedly served at the club's own bar and simply named after it.
- What's the difference between a Clover Club and a Clover Leaf?
- A Clover Leaf is the same drink with a sprig of fresh mint added on top as garnish — everything else stays the same. It's documented as far back as Harry Craddock's 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book as the Clover Club's closest variation.
