When you want to sip a drink that takes you back in time — a time when tiny paper umbrellas didn’t exist and a party’s “jungle juice” was bathtub gin — try the Clover Club at The Continental.
See the augmented reality version of this story
The cocktail was once enjoyed by a group of journalists and socialites who called themselves The Clover Club. They gathered at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia from the 1880s through the 1920s. The club was elite, and this sipper makes you feel at the top of your game.
It’s a bit of a beast to prepare, if only for its multiple ingredients. The mixologists at The Continental start the drink preparation by filling a glass with ice water and setting it aside to chill while they mix the rest. In a shaker, they pour two ounces of gin, 3/4-ounce of lemon juice, 1/2-ounce of simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water heated until the sugar is dissolved), one teaspoon of raspberry preserves and about two tablespoons of pasteurized egg whites.
Those ingredients are shaken without ice until they are mixed well and fizzy. Then, a scoop of ice is added to the shaker, and the cocktail is rattled again. Then the concoction is strained into the chilled cocktail glass.
The result is a barely-pink drink with a layer of foam on top. It is slightly sweet from the raspberry preserves (which create pretty red specks that float around the glass like sprinkles), with a hint of sour from the lemon juice. The egg whites, an unexpected ingredient you wouldn’t guess is present, is tasteless but simply makes the drink smooth.
It’s a drink to be enjoyed after a long work day or late at night with a date, as it conjures a certain sophistication from the gentlemen who created it.
Clover Club
Try it: The Continental, 428 E. Locust St.
Cost: $8
Info: 244-5845; continental- lounge.com
