Tract · Cocktails

Sour · Shaken · Historical · complexity 3/5

Clover Leaf Cocktail

Grohusko's Clover Leaf Cocktail is a grenadine-and-egg gin sour with fresh mint.

gin · grenadine · eggy · minty · refreshing · all-day

Served in Glass. Ice: Broken ice.

Family

Variants (8)

Jack's Manual by J. A. Grohusko (1910, p.47)

0.5 lemonlemon juice acid
1 portiondry gin — Source gives 100% dry gin.base
1 egg whiteegg white base
ice — broken iceother
1 sprigmint other
1 tablespoonGrenadine sweetener
  1. Shake the egg white, lemon juice, grenadine, dry gin, mint, and broken ice.
  2. Strain and serve.

Garnish: Mint sprig

Ice: Broken ice

Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks by Jacques Straub (1913, p.22) — Straub 1913

1 jiggerdry gin — Dry Ginbase
1 wholeLemon juice (fresh) — Lemonbase
1 wholeegg white — White of One Eggother
1 sprigmint — On top.other
1 barspoonRaspberry syrup — Raspberry Syrupsweetener
  1. Shake well.
  2. Serve with a sprig of mint on top.

Garnish: Mint sprig

This is a key pre-war checkpoint for the pink, egg-white gin sour line that later narrows into a much smaller remembered canon.

Rawling's Book of Mixed Drinks by Ernest P. Rawling (1914) — Rawling 1914, cocktail section

1 teaspoonfulLime juice (fresh) — lime juiceacid
0.33 measuredry vermouth — French vermouthbase
0.67 measureLondon dry gin — dry ginbase
1 wholeegg white other
1 sprigmint other
3 teaspoonfulGrenadine syrup sweetener
  1. Shake thoroughly with cracked ice and serve in a wine glass with mint on top.

Garnish: Mint sprig

Ice: Cracked ice

Recipes for Mixed Drinks by Hugo R. Ensslin (1917, p.15) — Ensslin 1917

0.5 limeLime juice (fresh) — Lime Juiceacid
0.5 drinkgin base
0.5 drinkGrenadine syrup — Grenadinebase
1 whiteegg white — Egg Whiteother
  1. Shake well in a mixing glass with cracked ice.
  2. Strain and serve with a mint leaf on top.

Garnish: Mint leaf

Ice: Cracked ice

This matters because it keeps the Clover branch distinct in its mint-topped form rather than collapsing it into later Clover Club shorthand.

The mint leaf finish is the visible service distinction that separates this version from the no-mint branch.

The Ideal Bartender by Tom Bullock (1917, p.33) — Bullock 1917

0.5 ponyGrenadine syrup — Cusenier Grenadinebase
1 jiggerOld Tom gin — Sir Robert Burnette's Old Tom Ginbase
1 whiteegg white — White of one Eggother
  1. Fill a mixing glass with lump ice.
  2. Shake well, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

Ice: Lump ice

This matters because Bullock preserves the Clover Leaf as a distinct Old Tom and grenadine line rather than merely a garnish variation of Clover Club.

The absence of vermouth here materially separates the drink from Bullock's Clover Club logic.

Julian's Recipes by Julian Anderson (1919, p.18)

3 dasheslemon juice base
0.5 jiggerOld Tom gin — Tom ginbase
1 egg whiteegg white other
1 tablespoonfulRaspberry syrup sweetener
  1. Shake the lemon juice, raspberry syrup, egg white, and Tom gin well.
  2. Strain into a cocktail glass, float a mint leaf on top, and serve.

Garnish: Mint leaf

About Town Cocktail Book by Joe Fitchett (1925, p.11) — About Town 1925

0.5 teaspoonfullime juice — Lime Juiceacid
1 whiteegg white base
60 percentgin base
1 teaspoonfulPineapple juice — Pineapple Juicedilution
40 percentItalian vermouth — Italian Vermouthmodifier
mint — Mint shaken in cocktail and served with mint leaf on top.other
  1. Put mint leaf in the shaker with the other ingredients and shake well.
  2. Serve with a leaf of mint on top.

Garnish: Mint leaf

This matters because it preserves the pineapple-and-vermouth Clover Leaf branch very distinctly from the Clover Club.

Cocktails by Pedro Chicote (1928, p.128) — Pedro Chicote 1928

1 small glassdry gin base
1 tablespoonsugar — Azúcarbase
egg white — Clara de huevoother
Grenadine — Jarabe de granadinasweetener
  1. Shake very well and serve in a cocktail glass with straws.

Ice: Ice pieces

This matters because it confirms the Clover Leaf as a distinct named pink gin branch in the Spanish late-1920s field.

Related recipes

See also: Clover Club Cocktail, Pink Lady Cocktail