Clover club in Paris - a gin cocktail

This prettily colored drink is a twist on the classic Clover Club gin cocktail. It has a lovely gently aromatic flavor and is relatively tart, as well as packing a bit of a punch, too. Perfect to treat yourself (or someone else) to. 

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I'll be honest, I have never been a Valentine's Day person. On the odd times I might have wanted to go out with my other half for the occasion, it was always way too busy. I have always found it a little false and likely to lead to letdown. And after all, shouldn't it be an ongoing thing? 

In recent years, though, my cynicism has mellowed a little so that I can at least get on board for it to be an excuse to eat and/or drink something a bit nice at home. Whether that's your excuse or not, this is a lovely bright cocktail that's worth making an excuse for.

The original Clover Club

This drink is a twist on the Clover Club which is a pre-Prohibition drink. It takes it's name from the club that created it, a kind of gentleman's salon based in the Bellevue-Stratford hotel in Philadelphia. It ran from the late 1800s through to WW1 and the cocktail appeared towards the club's time, before going out of fashion. 

More recently, the name Clover Club has been resurrected in Brooklyn and naturally, they put the cocktail on the menu. They did, however, put a slight spin on the ingredients. 

The original is simply a healthy shot of gin with a little raspberry syrup and lemon juice. Shake them all together with a little egg white to get that characteristic foamy top.

The newer club's drink swaps out a little of the gin for dry vermouth. It was this swap, plus having some homemade raspberry liqueur/vodka that I used in my kir imperial not so long ago, that led me to think of a couple further twists to add.

About the name...

I've called this drink "Clover Club in Paris" given the ingredients I've swapped in. True, my homemade liqueur isn’t French, but it's loosely based on Chambord, which you could use, which is. Part of my reasoning is I think it's something more people might have around (plus it's fun and easy to make, as I'll be sharing soon!). 

I liked the idea of reducing the gin a little (especially since I was adding a raspberry liqueur instead of raspberry syrup so there's more alcohol). But in place of vermouth, I've gone with Lillet blanc which is similar but that little more aromatic.

Tips and swaps

Make sure you use a good gin for this as you will taste the difference. I wouldn't go for one heavy on juniper, but rather more aromatic fits better.

If you don't have any Lillet blanc, I'd suggest a red vermouth, rather than white. It's not quite the same flavor, but it has a nice aromatic/herbal quality which I think would work well. 

Since both tastes and raspberry liqueurs can vary, I'd recommend you test before you shake it all up. I'd suggest you hold back say ½oz/15ml of the gin and the egg white, stir the ingredients and taste. I found I wanted a little more raspberry and a little more lemon (as well as the gin because, hey!), but you may find it good as it is. 

This Clover Club in Paris gin cocktail is an easy combination that results in an elegant and flavorful drink. It has a lovely tart edge, a smoothness from the egg white and and is lightly aromatic too. Perfect pink sipping.

Try these other raspberry cocktails

• Raspberry caipirinha
• Lemon raspberry bellini
• Raspberry collins cocktail
• Plus get many more cocktail recipes in the archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store.  In many locations, you can have wine, spirits and more delivered to your door with Drizly.

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