Clover Club

The Clover Club is pre-Prohibition Philadelphia's greatest cocktail contribution and one of history's most elegant pink drinks. Created around 1900 at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel for the Clover Club (a gentlemen's club of lawyers, writers, and titans of industry), this gin cocktail combines gin, lemon juice, raspberry syrup, and egg white to create a pink, frothy, sophisticated cocktail. The drink fell out of favor in the mid-20th century (pink drinks were considered unmanly), but the craft cocktail renaissance restored it as a modern classic. Served in a chilled coupe glass with a raspberry garnish, the Clover Club represents pre-Prohibition sophistication, gentlemen's club culture, and the redemption of pink cocktails. The drink embodies Philadelphia drinking heritage, Gilded Age elegance, and the craft cocktail movement's recovery of forgotten classics. The Clover Club's berry sweetness, gin botanicals, citrus brightness, and silky egg white foam create elegant, fruit-forward sophistication. The cocktail demands quality ingredients: good gin, fresh lemon juice, real raspberry syrup (not grenadine), and proper egg white foam. The drink represents the reclamation of "feminine" cocktails by serious bars, pre-Prohibition cocktail culture, and Philadelphia's cocktail heritage. Whether served at a Philadelphia bar or a global cocktail lounge, the Clover Club delivers pink sophistication.