The classic Clover Club is a raspberry gin sour with a bright lemon edge and a soft, silky foam. For one well-balanced drink, shake gin, fresh lemon juice, raspberry syrup, and egg white first without ice, then again with ice. Strain it into a thoroughly chilled coupe and serve immediately.
The key is restraint: raspberry syrup should provide color and rounded fruit, not turn the drink into a sweet berry cocktail. A dry shake builds the foam; a second shake with ice chills and dilutes the drink to a smoother, more integrated finish.
Clover Club cocktail recipe
Yield: 1 cocktail
Glass: Chilled coupe or small cocktail glass
Equipment: Cocktail shaker, Hawthorne strainer, fine-mesh strainer, jigger
Ingredients
- 2 ounces gin
- 1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 ounce raspberry syrup
- 1 egg white
- Fresh raspberries, for garnish, optional
Method
- Chill the glass. Place a coupe in the freezer for a few minutes, or fill it with ice and water while you make the drink. Empty and dry it before straining.
- Add the ingredients to a shaker. Combine the gin, lemon juice, raspberry syrup, and egg white in the larger half of a shaker.
- Dry shake. Seal the shaker and shake hard without ice. A firm shake helps the egg white form a stable, fine-textured foam.
- Add ice and shake again. Open the shaker, add plenty of ice, reseal, and shake until the tin feels very cold.
- Double-strain. Strain through a Hawthorne strainer and then a fine-mesh strainer into the chilled coupe. This removes ice chips and any small bits of egg white, producing a cleaner surface.
- Garnish simply. Add a few raspberries on a pick, if using. Let the foam remain visible rather than covering it with a large garnish.
What the Clover Club should taste like
A good Clover Club is tart first, lightly sweet second, and clearly gin-led. The raspberry should read as fresh and fragrant rather than jammy. Egg white contributes texture more than flavor, giving the drink a creamy body and a soft cap of foam.
If the drink tastes too sharp, use a slightly richer raspberry syrup or add a small additional splash of syrup. If it tastes overly sweet or muted, increase the lemon juice slightly on the next round. Changes should be small; this is a compact drink, and even a modest adjustment changes its balance.
Why dry shake and wet shake?
The two-stage shake solves two different problems.
A dry shake—shaking without ice—agitates the egg white before cold dilution firms everything up. This helps create a tighter foam with smaller bubbles. The wet shake with ice then chills the drink and adds the water needed to soften the gin, lemon, and syrup into a cohesive sour.
Some bartenders prefer to shake with ice first, strain out the ice, then shake again without ice. That reverse approach can also produce a good foam. For most home setups, dry shake followed by a shake with ice is the more straightforward Clover Club method.
Foam troubleshooting
The foam is thin or disappears quickly
Shake longer and more forcefully, especially during the dry shake. Make sure the shaker is properly sealed so agitation is vigorous. A fresh egg white generally foams more readily than an egg white that has been sitting exposed to air.
Also avoid overfilling the shaker. The ingredients need room to move and aerate.
The drink is cold but has little foam
The dry shake may have been skipped or too brief. Shake the egg white with the liquid ingredients before adding ice. Fine-straining into the glass can also help keep the top neater by removing fragments of ice that can disrupt the foam.
The foam is coarse and bubbly
Use plenty of ice for the second shake and strain carefully. A fine-mesh strainer is useful here: it catches larger bubbles and ice shards before they reach the glass.
The drink looks pale rather than pink
Raspberry syrup varies widely. A syrup made with more fruit will usually give a deeper color, while a clear commercial raspberry syrup may produce a lighter blush. Do not add extra syrup just for color unless the drink can handle the added sweetness.
Raspberry syrup for a Clover Club
A raspberry syrup with real fruit gives the cocktail its signature berry aroma. One common home method is to dissolve 1 cup sugar in 1/2 cup water over gentle heat, then add 1/2 cup fresh raspberries, crush them into a pulp, and fine-strain out the seeds. Let the syrup cool fully before using it in a cocktail.
Taste the finished syrup before mixing. If it is intensely sweet, begin with the stated 1/2 ounce in the recipe. If it is notably tart or thin, the drink may need a small adjustment after the first attempt.
Keep homemade syrup in a clean, covered container in the refrigerator and assess it before use. For storage guidance specific to your ingredients and preparation, consult an official food-safety source.
Clover Club without egg white
For an egg-free Clover Club, replace the egg white with aquafaba, the liquid from canned chickpeas. Use approximately the same volume as the egg white and follow the same dry-shake, wet-shake method. The drink will retain much of the airy texture, though the foam and mouthfeel may differ slightly.
You can also make the drink without a foaming ingredient: shake the gin, lemon juice, and raspberry syrup with ice and strain into a chilled coupe. It will still be a pleasant raspberry gin sour, but it will not have the Clover Club’s characteristic velvety top.
If you use egg white, consider pasteurized egg products where appropriate and follow package directions. Raw or lightly cooked eggs can present a foodborne-illness risk; consult official food-safety guidance if you are serving guests with particular health concerns.
Gin choices and simple variations
Choose a dry gin with enough botanical character to remain present beside lemon and raspberry. A strongly floral gin can make the drink more perfumed, while a classic juniper-forward London dry style gives it a firmer, more traditional shape.
For a slightly drier version, reduce raspberry syrup to just under 1/2 ounce. For a fuller berry profile, use a more concentrated homemade syrup rather than simply adding more sweetener. The best adjustment is usually better syrup, not more syrup.
Serve the Clover Club immediately after straining. The drink is at its best while cold and while the foam is freshly formed.
