Clover Club is rolling out the classics.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary this month, the Brooklyn cocktail bar launched a new yearbook-style menu this week that features highlights from its decade on Smith Street.
“We’ve taken all of our favorites and put them together, so it’s a combination of things that sold really well that we loved or just a drink that signified or symbolized a significant shift for us,” said head bartender Tom Macy, who curated the menu with owner Julie Reiner.
The menu is also a way to acknowledge “graduates” of Clover Club, whose ranks include Giuseppe Gonzalez (Suffolk Arms), Thomas Waugh (The Pool Lounge), Lacy Hawkins (Monkey 47 national brand ambassador) and Ivy Mix, who went on to open Reiner’s Latin-inspired bar, Leyenda, across the street. The menu features illustrations of the bartenders with their favorite drink.
“It’s a pretty impressive list of people that have gone on to do other things,” Macy said.
The spring and summer menu is as extensive and varied as Clover Club’s typical offerings, with more than 40 cocktails ranging from sours and cobblers to royales to fizzes to tiki to spirit-forward libations (die-hards can buy a commemorative menu for $20).
A fall version of the menu will also launch as part of the anniversary festivities.
“I feel like we’ve taken 10 years of trial and error to build this menu,” Macy said. “Sometimes it takes a while to realize a drink has this staying power.”
Since Clover Club opened on Smith Street in 2008, other neighborhood establishments have come and gone, notably Char No. 4 and The JakeWalk, both cocktail destinations that opened the same year as Clover Club.
Macy attributes the bar’s longevity to its creative yet balanced libations.
“We always want to be original and interesting,” Macy said. “We always check ourselves to be drinks you want to order a second one of.”
Read our interview with Macy on where likes to eat and drinkwhen he’s off the clock here.
