Manatawny Stillworks on the Philly Origins of the Clover Club
Drinking in Philadelphia has come a long way from throwing back City Wide’s. We’ve grown up: named a top five best beer city per GQ Magazine, CNN’s top six best beer town and home to one of famed Esquire’s booze critic David Wondrich’s favorite bars to drink a Sazerac. This reputation has helped lead to a major favorable shift in undoing Prohibition legacy laws. In 2016, Act 39 liberalized state alcohol regulations, allowing brewpubs to sell any spirits alongside their house beer and finally letting Philadelphia catch up with the rest of major American drinking cities.
While beer remains central to the City of Brotherly Love, spirits are in ascendance. With the wake of Act 39, Philly has seen a boom in craft distilleries. The southeastern Pennsylvania region is now a growth industry for them to experiment, collaborate and thrive.
Manatawny Still Works opened on East Passyunk Avenue in August 2017
Manatawny Still Works puts regional PA roots front and center. Headquartered in Pottstown along the Schuylkill River, the four-year-old distillery shines a light on the abundance of Pennsylvania spirits and ingredients in “The Place We Meet to Drink” – a name designated by the Lenape (Delaware) Indians who once habited this same land. In August of 2017, MSW expanded their footprint across the Lenape trail to South Philadelphia’s Passyunk Avenue (once home to another Lenape village) opening a tasting room that takes drinkers through a tour of Philadelphia's greatest cultural hits. There’s no better street to soak in this city’s rich nightlife boom: it made Food and Wine’s list of 10 Best Foodie Streets in America in 2013, proudly boasts 55 women business owners, hosts its own Restaurant Week and is lined with several annual street festivals. All in a narrow 10-block that cuts diagonally through the city.
Manatawny Still Works' spirits
Bar manager and Philadelphia-area born Mike Cohen challenges his team of bartenders to take on new riffs from the classics using small-batch spirits and ingredients sourced entirely from Pennsylvania. One evening Cohen reworks a Philly classic, The Clover Club, named after the one-time private men’s club in Philadelphia. It’s made even more local with American Keystone whiskey, Manatawny Still Works’ flagship product, Chester County-sourced honey and dehydrated blueberries replacing crushed raspberries which are turned into a syrup with sugar. The result is an “OG classic-meets-new Philly” taste-down.
“The original Clover Club is made with gin, raspberry, lemon juice and egg whites. First, the egg is cracked and separated, using only the whites to be mixed in with the citrus, berries and ice to be shaken til they become a froth. Next, the gin is added and shaken furiously to result in a perfectly cold and colorful drink. It’s served up (no ice) in a chilled coupe glass.”
Bar manager Mike Cohen pouring out his take on The Clover Club
On the left: the MSW version | On the right: the classic Clover Club
Cohen adds the star spirit last before shaking it vigorously for twenty seconds or so, pouring out white froth and then dotting it with dehydrated blueberries. Upon first taste is a whiskey-forward cocktail that evolves from strong to bitter, then citrusy and sweet. Oaky notes from the whiskey are aromatic and inviting, and naturally carry a bite when the brown liquor hits the back of your tongue. The sip is ultimately balanced by the sweet honey character and smoothie-like layer of a purple-hued foam from the egg whites. Approachable yet layered in depth of flavors and textures, it’s a Philadelphia-infected cocktail: rough around the edges, but warm and inviting at the core.
For Philly lifers like Cohen, it’s about putting your soul into the craft and bringing spirits to life for regulars in this neighborhood jawn. You can find locals perched up at the bar most nights swapping sass with Mike himself, while tourists mingle in a corner, overwhelmed by the menu’s options. As for me, it’s “dealer’s choice” sitting on a stool catching up with friends up and down the Avenue.
New to the city? Ask about MSW's “Italian Market” which tucks a torched cinnamon stick under a whiskey glass for additional fragrance and flavor, a sight that resembles the winter trash fires one might find in the South Philly outdoor market. Or take the “Joey Giardello” named after the East Passyunk neighborhood resident and boxer featuring a knockout mix of gin, sweet vermouth and amaro liqueur.
Cohen's "OG classic-meets-new Philly" Clover Club made from Keystone whiskey, Chester County-sourced honey and dehydrated blueberries
Manatawny Clover Club
1 ½ oz Keystone Whiskey available at ManatawnyStillWorks.com
¾ oz organic honey
½ oz lemon juice
¼ oz egg white
½ cup blueberries
Combine lemon juice, egg whites, and honey in a cocktail shaker. Fill shaker with ice, cover, and shake vigorously to dissolve honey, about 20 seconds. Next, add Keystone Whiskey to a shaker with the rest of the ingredients, add more ice and shake for another 20 seconds. Strain cocktail through a strainer into a coupe glass.
A version of this story appears in Fields & Stations’ first print issue. Buy it here.
