Clover Club - How to Make the Pre-Prohibition Gin Drink & the History Behind It
Тәжірибелік нұсқаулар және стиль
How to make the Clover Club, a classic cocktail made with Gin, Lemon Juice, Raspberry Syrup and an Egg White, with a Lemon Twist but not for garnish. It’s an exotic gin sour. It has a creamy mouthfeel and full bouquet of complex flavors. It’s in the neighborhood of a White Lady, only with raspberry syrup instead of orange liqueur.
In the 1870’s America entered the Gilded Age. This time was marked by a new class of ultra-wealthy swindlers and con men that became known as the Robber Barons. The era was named after the 1873 Mark Twain book, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.
In this period of gild and graft, a small social club was formed in Philadelphia. In January 1880, a group of 15 people, mostly newspaper men, met for an informal dinner. This turned into a monthly event held of Thursdays and they called themselves the Thursday Club. That lasted for about 2 years before breaking up. However, a few members formed another social club that was soon named the Clover Club.
The club bounced between a couple different locations before adopting a more permanent home in the Hotel Bellevue, where they met for nearly 20 years before moving into the bigger, better, more extravagant, Bellevue-Stratford.
Both Bellevue hotels were owned and operated by George C. Boldt, a hotelier who catered his brand of hospitality almost exclusively to the era’s tycoon-class. This attention to the needs of the ultra-wealthy, landed him the gig of being president of the Waldorf-Astoria, an ultra-luxurious pair of hotels in New York that were different buildings (that were eventually connected via a hallway) built on the same square block, each of which were owned by an Astor. William Waldorf Astor and John Jacob Astor IV, were not on good terms. Boldt became a sort of mediator for their rivalry and in the process helped turn the Waldorf-Astoria into a world-renowned destination.
Boldt was a champion for the Clover Club. They loved him and the feeling was mutual. The Cloverites, as they were known, were not exactly in the same league as the Robber Barons, but they weren’t doing too badly for themselves. They were newspaper men, lawyers, judges, senators, presidents, cartoonists and satirists. Their guests and honorary members included the sitting president, Grover Cleveland and the man who helped name the era, Mark Twain.
The Clover Club dissolved right around World War I. But the drink bearing it’s name was carried on. Exactly when the drink was invented and by whom is not really known, but it showed up in print as early as 1901. Michael J. Killackey, the head bartender at the Waldorf-Astoria, shared the recipe with the New York Press. The recipe was undoubtedly given to Killackey by Boldt.
The drink was originally composed of gin, lemon juice, granulated sugar, raspberry syrup and an egg white. It was made popular by the Waldorf-Astoria and remained popular through Prohibition. It also appeared on the influential menus at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris and at the Savoy in London. It’s popularity waned after Prohibition, but like a lot of vintage drinks, it found a new audience after being explored in David Wondrich’s seminal cocktail book, Imbibe.
The recipe I like the best comes from The 12 Bottle Bar by Lesley and David Solmonson. Their version is slightly simplified from the original. It axes the sugar, but makes up for the missing sweetness by increasing the measurement of raspberry syrup.
I like to hit it with a lemon twist. The lemon oils will help eliminate any of that wet dog smell that some egg whites give off. But unlike most drinks, I toss the lemon peel and don’t garnish the drink with it. The foamy head of this drink is perfect just the way it is. Cheers!
Recipe:
1.5 oz (45 ml) Gin
0.75 oz (22 ml) Lemon Juice
0.25 oz (7 ml) Raspberry Syrup
Egg White
Lemon Twist (discard)
Dry shake (without ice) all ingredients. Add ice, then shake again. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Squeeze a lemon peel over the top of the drink. Discard the peel.
Music:
Good Ol Days 2 by Martin Landh
via Epidemic Sound
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Featured in this Episode:
Ford’s Gin
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Raspberry Syrup
• How to Make Raspberry ...
Imbibe! by David Wondrich
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The 12 Bottle Bar by David & Lesley Solmonson
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Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh
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Bar Tools:
Couple Glass (Different Glass)
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OXO SteeL Double Jigger
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Chef'n FreshForce Citrus Juicer (Lemon)
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Fine Mesh Strainer
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OXO SteeL Cocktail Shaker
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Cutting Board
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Small Knife
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Norpro Vegetable Peeler
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Пікірлер: 96
Thank you again for an awesome video!
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Glad you dug it. Cheers!
Love what you do. Keep it up.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Thank you! Glad you dig it.
Probably the only place where I found the entire clover's club history in detail. Loved it and thanks for the information shared here.
@DistinguishedSpirits
3 жыл бұрын
Thanks! Glad you liked the video. That was a fun one to do.
Awesome. I've been waiting for you to do a vid on the clover club and what a great history lesson.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Haha. Thanks. It definitely had a few requests. Glad you liked it. Cheers!
The videos keep getting better and better. Thank you
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Awesome. Glad to hear it. Cheers!
Oh, wow! Thank you for the recipe. I absolutely love old school cocktails, and this one looks fantastic.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Cheers! Glad to hear you liked it.
Another great video. The history behind many of foods and drinks contain some amazing stuff.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Cheers! Glad you were into it. I agree, some of these stories are just so surprising.
I have yet to try this, though I have seen videos over it and seen it in plenty of books on cocktails and early cocktail manuals. Yet when you come out with a video I always make right after, your informative and the editing style go hand in hand. Glad I found your channel, have a good day.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Great to hear! Thanks for the love. Hope you like this one. Let me know how yours turned out.
Glad you got a patreon, hope it helps to let you continue making fine videos.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I kept getting suggestions to create one. It's up, but I'm still putting together the rewards. Stay tuned for those. Thanks for your support!
I have watched all your videos in a couple of days. You are doing a wonderful job, hard to find another channel thats as interesting, good researched and well filmed as yours.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Thank you. That's great to hear. This was originally supposed to be a simple one, but it just kept growing and growing. Haha.
Fascinating history.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Exactly and I had to start cutting out some details at some point such as the most famous incident at theBellevue-Stratford in the 20th century was that in the 1970's, due to several factors, it infamously became the birthplace of legionnaires disease. Anyway, this drink had a lot of unexpected connections. Glad you dug the video. Cheers!
Great video
@DistinguishedSpirits
3 жыл бұрын
🥳
God, how I missed these videos! They're just too damn good 👌 This is an easy one, I'll definitely use this recipe next time I make one 👍 Cheers!
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Haha. Cheers! Let me know how it turns out.
This is such a fabulous cocktail! Love Julie's version and her bars!!
@DistinguishedSpirits
3 жыл бұрын
Same!
So many ways to make this cocktail. Not sure which is the "right" way, but they're all good. Cheers!
Aw yeuh, DS is back.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
i.imgur.com/b79nr8w.gif
You can ad a little bit of dry vermouth. And what is also really cool to do adding a bit of rasberry marmelade
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
The raspberry marmalade/preserves version is how Jim Meehan makes his. The dry vermouth version was how Harry MacElhone did it during Prohibition and how the Clover Club in Brooklyn does it today. I definitely like that version, but I always default to making it this way at home.
Great vid!
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Cheers!
It's fun to use different syrups in this drink. I've done it with blackberry syrup, grenadine, cranberry syrup, and most recently rhubarb syrup.
@DistinguishedSpirits
4 жыл бұрын
Oh wow. Sounds exciting. Cranberry and Rhubarb. Good ideas. Cheers!
Well since I tried that way, I never used raspberry syrup again, (this is my favourite fruit cocktail ever), and always serve like rhis to my guests, and I use the syrup only when I don't have fresh raspberry :) Love your channel, lot of passion here!!!
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Gotcha. Gotcha. Makes sense. Thank you. Glad to hear you dig the channel. Cheers!
I'm making this one tonight!!
@DistinguishedSpirits
3 жыл бұрын
Excellent! Let me know how it turns out.
@brigittearmstrong304
3 жыл бұрын
I'm making my raspberry syrup now!!
So damn interesting, I had to watch it twice.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Yeah, huh? Crazy backstory. Glad you liked it. Cheers!
The return of the king ( of cocktails). Glad to see you back. You should consider creating a patreon. I could see you getting a lot of support.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Watch the video all the way through. 😉 www.patreon.com/DistinguishedSpirits Glad to hear you're into the idea.
@54isabeast
6 жыл бұрын
Distinguished Spirits totally missed it. Thanks for the heads up
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Haha. No worries.
Nice to see you are Back mate :)
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Indeed. I just got back from your homeland. I spent the holidays in Germany and the Netherlands. The trip inspired me to do some more gin drinks.
@goesman81
6 жыл бұрын
Distinguished Spirits very nice , hope you didn’t get to mutch of the cold and dark side of German weather Well then I curious about what drinks you will come up with, Bombay London Dry Gin was the first bottle I bought for my bar an started mixing with
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Yeah, it was just enough cold German climate for me. Haha.
Have you ever tried to muddle 4 raspberries in the Shaker with sugar syrup, then add the remaining ingredients? It's a way to have more fresh raspberry taste! Cheers from Italy!
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
No, but it sounds interesting. It would be a good way to make one when you don't have time to make raspberry syrup. Saluti!
Great video, although I still prefer it with the Dry Vermouth! Slainte 🥃
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Gotcha. Yeah, that's how they make it at the Clover Club in Brooklyn and it's also how Harry MacElhone did it during Prohibition at his influential Harry's New York Bar in Paris. So, you've got some great company. I like it that way too, but I always end up making it this way at home.
@waffletube5707
4 жыл бұрын
just tried it with dry vermouth tonight. so good. nice addition.
Excellent drink. Still prefer it with the dry vermouth though. I recommend doing a Singapore Sling sometime. Cheers!
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Cheers! Yeah, Singapore coming soon.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
The Singapore Sling video is finally up. Check it out: kzread.info/dash/bejne/q4Jhj6pxYa3NXbQ.html
I love Fords Gin.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Oh yeah! Gotta love Ford's!
Anybody know where he got the glass from? I really want some :)
fantastic! gonna make this tonight can you skip the eggwhite?
@DistinguishedSpirits
3 жыл бұрын
You can. It’s mostly a texture thing, not flavor. But if you’re vegan or allergic to eggs or something, you can try using aquafaba (the liquid in a can of chickpeas) as an egg white substitute. It’ll help the drink foam up and give it that creamy mouthfeel you get with egg whites.
Another great video, very rare to hear folks talk about the American Guilded Age, I thought I was back in undergrad. Keep up the great work, glad I subscribed.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Cheers! The connections on this one ran pretty deep. Glad to hear you dug it.
Did your voice get even deeper?
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Haha. I don't think so, but maybe I hit a growth spurt.
@centpushups
3 жыл бұрын
Sounds deeper when you are on all fours.
for those interested, the recipe for cocktail starts at 5.40 mins.
Speaking of sweet gin drinks, I know the Singapore Sling's in the pipeline. But is there any chance you'll make Bermuda Bouquet vid somewhere down the line?
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Probably not any time soon. I've never heard of or tried it, but you dig it?
@raphaelgordon7248
6 жыл бұрын
I've actually never tried it, but I'm gonna get around to making one one of these days. It looks pretty good. It's in Trader Vic's bartender's guide, the '70s version at least. I don't know if it's in the original edition. It has: 1.5 oz gin, 1 oz apricot brandy, 1 teaspoon grendadine, 1/2 a teaspoon of curaçao, the juice of 1/4 orange and 1/2 lemon, and 1 teaspoon of sugar
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
I gotcha. I have the 40's version of the book and there's a very similar version in there called the Bermuda Cocktail. There's also a drink from another book from the 30's called Bermudiana Rose, which is also a very similar recipe.
@raphaelgordon7248
6 жыл бұрын
Yeah in the '70s version there are a bunch of similar, similarly-named drinks, like the Bermuda Rose, Bermuda Cocktail, etc. The Bermuda Bouquet just happened to look best to me.
Have you posted your raspberry syrup recipe anywhere?
@DistinguishedSpirits
4 жыл бұрын
kzread.info/dash/bejne/mJioxdamlNTNcZc.html
@KingstonSun
4 жыл бұрын
Distinguished Spirits Thankyou!!
Finally😂
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Haha. This was supposed to be out weeks ago, but then I scrapped my original script and re-wrote it after I fell down the rabbit hole of all of the crazy connections surrounding this drink.
Great video. Are you waering clothes in it? I'm 30% sure you shook that cocktail shirtless.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
That's the secret to good home bartending.
Oh wow, this wasn't what I expected for your next drink.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Haha. What were you expecting? I actually had intended to put up another video before this, but that one hit a little snag in the research of its origin story. I figured this would be an easy one to explore, but then I fell down a rabbit hole of all kinds of connections and it ended up taking a lot longer than I thought.
@joshuaperrin3910
6 жыл бұрын
I was expecting the Singapore Sling to be honest.
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
Haha. Okay. Yeah, that's coming soon... I burned through several recipes, and finally landed on a great one. I am just still working on pulling the story together on that one. So stay tuned.
Who knew?! All that info behind a drink. So much to it...the rich get richer and the poor get poorer!
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
What a difference a century makes... Yeah, it's sad how familiar all that sounded.
He's back from the dead
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
i.imgur.com/OfINWwQ.gif
Clover Club needs to get the gang back together, gilded age is here again, can you say #GopTaxScam?
@DistinguishedSpirits
6 жыл бұрын
We can do better that some of the Cloverites. They weren't all as awesome as some of the guests I named. In fact, most of their best members, Mark Twain and Elbert Hubbard, were only guests of the club. But, either way, point well taken. Gilded Age 2.0 I love your user name by the way. I just watched Dr. Strangelove recently. I did a little post on it, here: instagram.com/p/BaaPXYnFI2E/
Soy la única que viene por la canción? y habla español??? si? ok (._.)
@DistinguishedSpirits
5 жыл бұрын
Bueno, pero es una buena canción. 😉👍
The actual making of the drink at 5:55