This feature is part of our 2024 Next Wave Awards.

It’s been just over 16 years since Julie Reiner and her wife and business partner Susan Fedroff opened their award-winning bar Clover Club in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. Since that early summer evening in 2008, their neighborhood cocktail bar has continued to cultivate that elusive, somewhat magical formula at the heart of the best bars by serving as a home away from home for local regulars and a must-visit destination for drinks aficionados from around the world.

With more than three decades in the bar industry, Reiner and Fedroff built their reputation opening and running landmark New York City bars whose legacies remain touchstones of the modern craft cocktail revival. Over the years, they experienced great success along with the humbling lessons born of frustration working with various investors and business partners. But a new-look team was formed when general manager Christine Williams officially became a partner in 2014. The trio immediately clicked, reinvigorating and reassuring the continued legacy of Clover Club by embracing and leaning into each of their own unique skill sets.

Prior to Clover Club, Reiner became the face of one of New York’s first high-volume craft cocktail bars when she and Fedroff, along with four other partners, founded The Flatiron Lounge (2003-2018). There, Reiner’s mentorship fostered a supporting cast of bartenders who would go on to create great things on their own, including Lynnette Marrero, Katie Stipe, Toby Maloney, Giuseppe González, Tonia Guffey, and Phil Ward.

Not long after the success of Flatiron Lounge, Reiner and Fedroff partnered with Audrey Saunders to open Pegu Club (2005-2020), the influential Soho bar where many modern classic cocktails were born. It was “iconic since day one,” Fedroff recalls. The history of Pegu Club remains primarily associated with Saunders, the talented protégé of Dale DeGroff who became an revered luminary in her own right, as Reiner took on a more behind-the-scenes role feeling it was too soon to put her name on another venue.

A change of location, crossing over the Brooklyn Bridge to Carroll Gardens, and the desire for “somewhere good to drink” near them inspired Reiner and Fedroff to explore a new project. At that time, Brooklyn Social was considered the “it” bar in the neighborhood but the landscape hadn’t yet become what is now a fertile stomping ground for many celebrated bars. Clover Club’s opening also proved a boon for author, drinks historian, and partial inspiration for the location, David Wondrich, who lives in nearby Boerum Hill. When Reiner was debating between seeking a venue in Carroll Gardens or Park Slope, Wondrich jokingly suggested Smith Street as it would be a closer walk for him.

Unless you came up in the neighborhood, you might not know that what is now considered one of the world’s best bars was once home to the humble Johnnies Bootery, a long-standing shoe store on Smith Street that had gone out of business. The store’s namesake owner, John Verrangia, Jr., lived above the business. Williams shares that no one was prouder of the transformation than Verrangia, who would monitor the 14-month build-out from the comfort of a lawn chair he dragged downstairs with him.

They added a new back wall to break up the space into distinctive sections and completely rehauled the location of a stairwell, but the room didn’t truly step into its own new shoes until the arrival of the actual bar. The massive 1897 mahogany-stained oak fixture that now anchors the room was salvaged from the ground floor of a three-story bar and dance hall in the coal-mining town of Sugar Notch, Pa. Reiner and Fedroff drove to Pennsylvania with a “pile of cash” in their pockets and, after securing the deal, an 18-wheeler later pulled up on Smith Street with the bar broken down into 20 sections.

“There’s something about putting this piece of artwork in your space and then designing the room off it that makes it feel really organic with a sense of elegance,” Reiner says. “You can’t buy that kind of history.”

With its dark wood, leather, and patterned wallpaper, the owners like to describe Clover Club’s aesthetic as “Victorian era, pre-Prohibition Gothic.” Reiner strongly believes that the first opening night of a new bar is an indication of what’s to come, and says she knew immediately that Clover Club was going to be a hit. The neighborhood came out in full force, with many Italian American locals bestowing Reiner with loaves of homemade lard bread wrapped in paper sleeves and the assurance that they’d be there for her if she ever needed anything.

From happy hour until late night, the flow of Clover Club can be dictated by the season, with guests clamoring for outdoor seating in the warmer weather, and cozying up next to the fireplace in the bar’s back parlor when it’s cooler.

These days, on a busy Friday or Saturday night there’s a steady buzz throughout the room: couples on date night claiming the two-tops, a steady parade of walk-ins, and even the occasional bride and groom strolling in after getting married at city hall to celebrate with a glass of Champagne.

The bar’s cocktail menu, which prioritizes classics, undergoes two annual seasonal changes. After Clover Club’s namesake cocktail — a gin sour made with raspberry, dry vermouth, lemon, and egg white — the two most popular signature drinks remain The Gin Blossom and The Slope. With these modern classics, Reiner pays homage with riffs on the Martini and the Manhattan, served with a ride-along sidecar resting on a bed of ice. Their large-format punch bowls remain a staple of service and as soon as winter begins to thaw, regular guests anticipate the return of the Green Giant, the springtime favorite made with Old Tom gin, sugar snap peas, and tarragon.

Neighborhood regulars helped spark the bar’s expanded food service, which ranges from elevated bar snacks (housemade duck fat potato chips and a truffle crème fraîche) and heartier fare (buttermilk fried chicken drizzled with hot sauce and honey), to a lively weekend brunch scene. One item you’ll see on nearly every table are deviled eggs, with each one served with a unique topping such as bacon and hot pepper jam, smoked trout with caviar, a crispy beet chip, and Clover Club’s signature chili crisp.

“We love to give the neighborhood something exciting and interesting to experience while still maintaining the integrity of what Clover Club is all about,” Reiner says, “and that’s being a neighborhood bar where people come and have the best, high-quality food and great cocktails and a comfortable seat at the bar.”

An integral factor in the continued longevity of Clover Club is the staff, many who have worked with Reiner for years. Reiner, in particular, calls out Juanito, their longest-serving employee who began as a prep cook on day one, and his colleague Francisco, who has worked his way up from a porter, dishwasher, and prep cook to helping oversee the bar’s catering program.

Among the bartenders long-associated with Clover Club, there’s Tom Macy who started as a barback and became head bartender. Macy no longer tends bar there, but remains a creative consultant. Williams calls him the “historian” of the bar and notes that a new drink doesn’t make the menu without his input. “Tom’s incredible palate and consistency brings focus to our menu and always helps take a drink to the next level,” Williams says.

Other fixtures of the bar who have helped define the Clover Club experience include Pedro Rojas, known as a “bartender’s bartender” for his work ethic; Mauricio Santana, who worked his way up from barback to bar manager over the years (beyond his dedication to his craft, Santana is also considered the best-dressed bartender on staff); and head bartender Ryan Liloia who specializes in tropical drinks and rum and is said to make the best Jungle Bird in town. Beyond being familiar faces who welcome guests each night, they’ve fostered years-long relationships with regulars who know their schedules and build their nights around sitting across the bar from them.

Meanwhile, as the team has since opened the pan-Latin bar Leyenda across the street with Ivy Mix, the more casual Milady’s in Soho with Izzy Tulloch, and the Saloon right next door, Clover Club’s legacy continues to evolve. A recent addition to the decor is a vintage four-leaf-clover made of brass emblazoned with “1897, Clover Club” that now hangs on a brick wall next to the bar (also made in 1897). Williams secured it after receiving a call from a contractor in Pennsylvania who had uncovered it at the former Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, which, from the 1880s until the 1920s, was home to the all-men’s drinking club known as the Clover Club. Consider it a lucky charm, or perhaps a sign that Brooklyn’s Clover Club will continue to live on.

With a career that not only includes owning and running acclaimed bars, but also as an author, appearing on a cocktail competition series on Netflix, judging spirited events around the world, consulting, and more, Clover Club remains the shining star that all of Reiner’s business and personal endeavors orbit. “This is the beating heart of it all. 210 Smith Street,” she says, extending her arm in a sweeping gesture to take in the buzz of the room in the early hours of yet another busy Friday night at Clover Club.

Bars open and bars close, but Clover Club still stands tall. “Less than one-percent of bars make it to 10 years,” Reiner says. “So every year is something to celebrate.”

The article Next Wave Awards Industry Icon of the Year: Clover Club appeared first on VinePair.