Isn’t She Lovely
“Isn’t She Lovely!?” (Thank you Stevie Wonder!)
With flavors of Raspberry, Lemon and Pistachio, your mouth will be left wanting more after each and every sip!!
As one of our newest curated cocktails, Isn’t She Lovely was inspired by the classic, Clover Club. The luscious blend of pistachio, raspberry, and gin is utterly divine. The egg-white softens the drink and helps the flavor linger on your palate for a delicious soft and tangy-sweet finish.
The Clover Club pre-dates Prohibition in the United States, and is named for the men’s club in which it was concocted. When first created, it was a popular drink in the affluent club. Since then, it has risen and fallen in popularity over the decades. There has been a recent resurgence of prohibition and pre-prohibition drinks with a lot of spin-offs. These old recipes, to be fair, did not have access to a lot of the ingredients we have today. (To be blunt, they sucked!) The original Clover Club formula consists of gin, raspberry syrup, lemon juice, and egg white.
Our cocktail uses the tried and true recipe from the OG, but the addition of pistachio infused gin and pistachio simple syrup transforms it into something else entirely. It is slightly salty-sweet, with a small bite of citrus that makes your mouth water. it’s the perfect show-stopping drink to go with hors d’oeuvres or a beautiful charcuterie plate. The beautiful raspberry, pinkish-red color with the white and fluffy foam top makes it not only delicious but gorgeous to look at. So let’s get to making this beauty!
Our recipe might sound intense (it is more involved than some of our other cocktails) but in reality, it isn’t too complicated. You start off by infusing the gin with pistachios, we used Roxor Artisan Gin. When infusing gin, stick with aromatic, classic and clear. (Nothing cheap, flavored or barrel aged!) We felt like Roxor worked well because the underlying earthy and nutty notes paired nicely with the pistachios. We shelled the pistachios ourselves using a blend of 20% to 80% salted to non-salted. The amount you will need depends upon how many drinks you want to make. Each drink contains 1.25oz of gin. We filled a 32oz mason jar with the pistachios and gin and it yielded about 12 drinks. We sampled the infusion a mere 2 hours after it was created and it already had a pistachio flavor! However, we suggest letting the mixture sit overnight. After sitting you can strain the gin using a strainer or cheesecloth into a clean Mason Jar or sealed, storage container.
Next up, we made the simple syrups. I am a huge fan of making your own simple syrups (just because it’s so easy)! And I don’t say that lightly because I’m very lazy. However, if you really don’t have the desire or time, Monin makes great pistachio and raspberry syrups. To make the pistachio syrup we used 1/2 cup of unshelled and unsalted pistachios crushed in the food processor. We put the pistachios, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1/2 cup of water in a pot on the stove to boil until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the syrup from the heat and let it sit to cool for 15 minutes. After the syrup has cooled, pour it through a cheesecloth and a fine sieve strainer into a storage bowl or jar. For the raspberry syrup, use the same measurements and process: 1/2 cup raspberries, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water. Mash the raspberries with a spoon while cooking. Bring it to a boil until the sugar is dissolved completely. Simmer for 8-10 minutes, then let it sit until cool. Follow the same straining method as above.
It’s time to make the drink! In addition to the pistachio infused gin, we added our favorite raspberry liqueur, Chambord. Blend, shake, ice, shake, strain, pour and enjoy!!
1.25 oz Pistachio Infused Gin
1 oz Chambord
.75 oz Raspberry Simple Syrup
.75 oz Pistachio Simple Syrup
1 Egg white
1 lemon wedge
Take a cocktail shaker with no ice and pour all the ingredients in it. When you squeeze the lemon juice from the slice, make sure to drop the wedge in the shaker. “Dry shake” for 45 seconds to emulsify then put ice cubes and 5-8 raspberries into the mix. Now, “wet shake” all the ingredients together to chill. Using a “Hawthorne strainer” pour this luscious concoction over the ice into chilled coupe glass. Garnish with raspberries, and serve.
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