Clover Club Cocktail / Clover Leaf

Cocktails and mixed drinks
1

The commonly told origin story of the Clover Club cocktail is that it was the signature drink of the eponymous Philadelphia social association, who met at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. However, I was recently watching a video by Anders Erickson where he pointed out that the Bellevue-Stratford did not open until 1904, but we know that Michael Killackey mentions the drink in 1901. Killackey supposedly learned of the drink from George Boldt who, then managing the Waldorf, got into the hotel business by founding and managing the Bellevue Hotel.

Now here’s the thing, the Bellevue and the Bellevue-Stratford are not exactly the same hotel. According to this obituary for Boldt, he was first a steward of the Clover Club before they helped him open the Bellevue Hotel on the NW corner of Walnut and Broad Streets in 1881. Then in 1890, Boldt went to New York to manage the Waldorf before eventually turning his eyes back to Philadelphia. He acquired the Stratford Hotel on the SW corner and opened the famous (and later infamous) Bellevue-Stratford in 1904.

So, it seems to me at least, that the Clover Club cocktail that Waldorf hipped Killackey to was created at the old Bellevue Hotel for the Clover Club between 1881 and 1890, and not at the yet to be built Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. I realize this is such a minor thing to be finicky about but it does correct for a chronological inconsistency in the history of the Clover Club, the drink.

6 Likes
2

What you’re saying seems to jibe with wikipedia’s chronology:

1881: Boldt’s first hotel was small, called the Bellevue, and was on the NW corner of Broad and Walnut. Opened 1881.

1890: Boldt moves to NYC to operate the Waldorf. Unclear what happens to his old Bellevue hotel: does he keep it? Sell it off?

1904: Boldt purchases the Stratford Hotel on the SW corner of Broad and Walnut, (presumably) tears it down, and erects the gigantic Bellevue-Stratford. (Props to him, I guess, for not naming it the Boldt Hotel.)

As for the drink, given that it isn’t ever mentioned prior to 1901, it seems equally possible that it dates to not much earlier than that. Presumably, the Clover Club was still active and meeting somewhere, possibly still at the old Bellevue Hotel. Then there’s the whole mess with the “Clover Leaf” and the apparent lack of other evidence to tie the damn drink to the Philadelphia Clover Club.

@armin went pretty far down a rabbit hole on that back in 2023, and I’m not sure if anything new has come to light:

2 Likes
3

Thank you so much for that link, it definitely highlights the weird, muddled history of the drink after 1901. But, the actual origin of the drink is still confusing given the reference to Killackey in the Oxford Companion and his connection to Boldt. However, I have stumbled upon something possibly interesting.

Here is an online version of the Clover Club’s (the social club) records/history book. It contains a few interesting nuggets. First, despite what Boldt’s obituary may have stated, the Club began as “Thursday Club” January 1880. On 1882/1/29, the Clover Club, with its formal name and many of its members was founded in some dude’s house. After that, all dinners of the Clover Club from January 1883 to January 1897, with 2 exceptions, were held at the Hotel Bellevue (still on Thursdays).

So, assuming that the cocktail is actually related to the club and is not just a renamed Clover Leaf, we have some general parameters. It probably originated between 1883 and 1890, when Boldt left for NYC.

Nevertheless, there are some beverages that are listed in the Clover Club’s book that theoretically could be their “signature drink”. A “Clover Punch” is mentioned being served on 1887/9/16, which is a punch I’ve never heard of but that might be shoddy memory on my part. This could be something but I haven’t had the chance to look into that yet.

However, there is a likely candidate for the Clover Club cocktail that Boldt shared with Killackey. The club had the “Loving Cup” (gifted to them on 1882/8/16) from which they ritually drank at every gathering. It is described in text thusly, “
 and therein the nectar of the gods, the manna of Hebron and the dew of Val Ambrosa”. Later on, the book states that no one knew the “composition of the brew” (ugh) but it is described as “potent”, “strong”, and in one later poem regarding the Loving Cup, as “feathery”. It also costs each member $10 a person.

If we interpret strong to mean spirits (maybe gin?) and feathery to mean egg white foam then
 maybe this could be the drink that Boldt shared with Killackey. But who knows? It was served in a giant, garish cup.

That’s as far as I dare dive today but without a recipe we can really only speculate if the Clover Club (social club) came up with some version of the Clover Club (cocktail) at the Bellevue Hotel between 1883 and 1890.

IMG_2733
IMG_2733959×1064 268 KB

^the Loving Cup in all its spit swapping glory.

5 Likes
4

First off, I’d better apologize to Armin and the readers of the Oxford Companion, for there is indeed a typo in the date of the 1901 piece in the New York Press where Michael Killackey (or “Killacky,” as the Press would have it) gave his recipe for the Clover Club. It was June 23, 1901, not June 21st, as the Companion gives it. In any case, it’s on page 8.

Screenshot 2025-08-09 at 9.09.01 AM
Screenshot 2025-08-09 at 9.09.01 AM804×1078 135 KB

So yes, the Clover Club predates the Clover Leaf by several years.

This Bellvue/Bellvue Stratford chronology is most useful. Philadelphia needs more detailed attention when it comes to the history of mixology.

As for the Clover Club itself and what it was drinking. Try as I might, I’ve never been able to unearth a recipe for Clover Punch or for the contents of their loving cup. I do see it described as a “punch,” though, rather than a cocktail, which is attributed–along with the famously lethal (and equally mysterious) Cyclone Punch that once laid out King Kalakaua of Hawaii when he visited Philadelphia–to Lewis “Lew” Megargee, the dean of Philly journalists at the time.

In the 1880s, it was far more likely a club like this boozed up communally on Punch than on a new-fangled London gin-and-egg white cocktail. The backbone of such clubs was older, established men, and they would have come of age well before English gin became a common mixing spirit. Only in the mid-1890s, once the Martini, the Gin Fizz and the Gin Rickey got their licks in, did it come into general cocktail use. I’d be surprised if the cocktail was older than, say, 1897. But then again, I’m often surprised, and who knows what secrets the archives are still holding onto.

8 Likes
5

Tangent: a few intriguing drinks there. I love the summary “Punch Universal”.

What might that “dantale” be for the Empress Cocktail?

2 Likes
6

I believe that’s “dantzic,” or Danziger Goldwasser, the liqueur. The “Italian chartreuse” is a puzzler, though, which makes me wonder if it wasn’t supposed to read “one-half Italian [vermouth, one-half] chartreuse.”

3 Likes
7

Many thanks for sharing that snippet from the Kallackey article. @armin can sleep a little sounder now.

Thank you as well for the refreshing us on what gins were where in history. My spitballing on the Clover Punch and Loving Cup was hopeful conjecture. Time will tell if we ever get anymore insight into whatever was in those.

But hey, least we got the Hotel situation a little bit clearer.

3 Likes
8

Hi everyone,

I haven’t speculated further yet, as I wanted to read the newspaper article mentioning M.J. Killacky first to get clarity on what exactly it says. Thank you, @Splificator, for sharing. It’s wonderful that there’s a recipe in there.

As stated on page 113 of source [1], the first meeting took place in 1880 as the »Thursday Club.« [1-113] The Clover Club was then founded in 1882. [2-13] The book on the history of the Clover Club from 1882 to 1897 states that all Clover Club dinners from 1883 to 1897, with two exceptions, took place at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia. [1-125] This book also contains an illustration of this hotel on page 174 with the caption: »Clover Club House. Hotel Bellevue, Philadelphia« [1-174]

The obituary for George Boldt states: »He then went to Philadelphia, where he found employment at the Clover Club and became a steward there. He earned the esteem of some club members, who later provided the funds for the construction of the old Bellevue.« [4] This statement is also consistent with the caption of [1-174], which confidently states that the club and hotel are practically identical.

This hotel must have already existed in 1882, when the club was founded, because that is where the dinners took place in 1882, starting on April 13. In January and February, they were held at Girard House, and in March at Augustin’s. [1-125] We are probably correct in assuming that the old Bellevue was operational from April 1882 onwards.

Now to @martin’s statement: »As for the drink, given that it isn’t ever mentioned prior to 1901, it seems equally possible that it dates to not much earlier than that. Presumably, the Clover Club was still active and meeting somewhere, possibly still at the old Bellevue Hotel. Then there’s the whole mess with the “Clover Leaf” and the apparent lack of other evidence to tie the damn drink to the Philadelphia Clover Club.«

Another indication that the drink originated later is that [1] contains numerous menus with the sequence of dishes, as well as the drinks served, such as the “Shamrock Punch, à la Chartreuse” [1-171] on March 17, 1892, or the “Clover Punch” on March 15, 1894. [1-171] However, the book does not mention a Clover Club Cocktail or Clover Leaf Cocktail. If this mixed drink had already existed as a “house drink” at that time, wouldn’t it have been included in this detailed book? @CurrerBachman also seems to share this doubt.

@Splificator also seems to have his doubts, writing, »I’d be surprised if the cocktail was older than, say, 1897. But then again, I’m often surprised, and who knows what secrets the archives are still holding onto.«

One thing is still bothering me, and maybe one of you has an answer? Wikipedia writes [3] about George Boldt, who was hired in 1876 by »William Kehrer, steward of The Philadelphia Club, as his assistant steward«. Shortly thereafter, he married his daughter. »Prominent members of the Philadelphia Club assisted the couple in setting up their own hotel, the Bellevue.« So the Belevue was his hotel. But why does it say “Philadelphia Club” here and not “Clover Club”? That contradicts the obituary. And if you follow the link to the Wikipedia article on the Philadelphia Club, [5] it becomes clear that this was a completely different club. An error on Wikipedia?

Like @martin, I would also like to know what happened to the old Bellevue. Until when did the Clover Club meet there?

So, what does all this tell us? We know that in 1901, the Clover Club was well known at the Waldorf-Astoria. There is much to suggest that it originated around or shortly before 1900. At that time, however, George Boldt was no longer in Philadelphia, but had been the owner of the Waldorf-Astoria since 1890 (or shortly thereafter) and was therefore in New York. [6] It is therefore pure speculation whether Michael Killackey received the recipe for the Clover Club from George Boldt, or via his channels to Philadelphia, or whether it might even have originated at the Waldorf-Astoria. I consider both possibilities to be feasible, even though there is much to suggest that it originated in Philadelphia, as newspaper articles from subsequent years suggest. But the recipe could just as easily have made its way from New York to Philadelphia, only to be imported back a few years later as something new. Without clear evidence, we will probably never know.

Well, with this recipe from 1901, I see that I need to re-examine my recipe at https://bar-vademecum.de/clover-leaf-cocktail-a-k-a-clover-club-cocktail/. I suspect that I am using far too much citrus juice and raspberry syrup. The taste will decide whether less of these ingredients should be used. The juice of half a lemon at that time was probably equivalent to a maximum of 15 ml; I’d say rather less.

[1] https://archive.org/details/cloverclubofphil00deac/page/112/mode/2up?q=thursday Mary R. Deacon: The Clover club of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1897.

[2] https://archive.org/details/cloverleavescomm00clov/page/12/mode/2up The Clover Club: Clover Leaves. A commemorative volume. Philadelphia, 1885.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bellevue-Stratford_Hotel#George_Boldt The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel / George Boldt .

[4] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/12/06/104696332.pdf The New York Times, 6 December 1916.

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Club Philadelphia Club

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Boldt George Boldt

4 Likes
9

I’m thrilled that the recipe in the article seems not only viable, but possibly definitive. The essential parts for a solid drink are there. I’m sure that “dash” of raspberry syrup was enough of a slug—maybe 1/2 oz—to make the drink red or at least a fetching pink, otherwise what’s the point?

2 Likes
10

@martin, that’s right. If one looks closely, the Clover Club 1901 is a sour (or rather a fix, as it is made with raspberry syrup instead of sugar syrup) with egg white, and Jerry Thomas and Harry Johnson’s formula for a sour is approximately 60:12.5:12.5 (or a maximum of 60:15:15). That’s why I believe that 30 ml of citrus juice, as used by Jacques Straub in 1913, is too much (at least if you want to stay true to the original) – which is why my recipe urgently needs to be revised.

4 Likes
11

I guess it sort of qualifies as a fix, but I guess I think of it really as a leading edge of the new cocktail as we know it, and of those, it’s really seems most like a cocktail [daisy], despite the raspberry syrup.

3 Likes
12

Martin, a fruited daisy?

1 Like
13

Well, Grohusko’s 1908 Brandy Daisy contains three kinds of citrus juice plus raspberry syrup. I bet the vast majority of Clover Clubs ever served were made with grenadine, rather than raspberry syrup, so we’re theoretically still in daisy territory. Moreover, while there are differences between a fruit syrup and a fruit liqueur, they serve almost the exact same roles. But I think the most essential thing is that by the 20th Century, the number of different (and often not-so-different) drinks is exploding and they’re known by their name, rather than by a fading, ill-defined, inconsistent typology. The new drinks are almost all cocktails, served in cocktail glasses. And this one isn’t brown!

I still think “fix” is an fantastic name for a drink, though.

4 Likes
14

“Moreover, while there are differences between a fruit syrup and a fruit liqueur, they serve almost the exact same roles.” ←This reminds me I’ve been meaning to play around with Crùme de Framboise instead of raspberry syrup in Clover Clubs. Not historical at all but I can update anyone interested in whether or not it works.

2 Likes
15

Gives a different meaning to the phrase “I need a fix”.

2 Likes
16

Behold, the proto-Cosmo!

1 Like