Moondragon wrote:Looza has 21 flavors?! I'm going to have to find some now. It looks like they may have discontinued their black currant flavor, though.

Looza!

In the Boston area, I have found Looza pomegranite a couple of shops. Slightly less expensive than Trader Joes, tremendously less expensive than the silly "Pom" in the spherical bottles. But the color of the Looza pomegranite is more brown than red when I've seen it, which is less appetizing, along with of course the name.

Found a Chilean Cab at Costco that is like pure black currant.

• 2005 Haras de Pirque Cabernet Sauvignon Character - Chile, Central Valley, Maipo Valley (6/18/2010)
  Essence of black currants on the nose with a little tar. Classic Chilean Cab. Dark fruit attack, hollow mid-palate, earthy and iron finish. Full bodied, medium acidity, integrated oak. Well-made, so typical of varietal and place it's not even funny.
  

ben5150 wrote:Blackcurrant juice is also great with Cider Beer. In England they call it a Cider & Black and it is really good! A good beer for the ladies too, since it is sweet with the berry taste

From a Brit holed up in Osaka today:

Javadrinker: being Brits it's neither, of course! Blackcurrant (one word) is pronounced in that very english way, with no emphasis on the last syllable, so words written with an A or an E will sounds very similar, though sometimes you can discern a difference. Because the scansion is Strong Strong Weak in terms of emphasis, "black" is a looong syllable and so there's an obvious short beat before you start to say the "current" but it's still one word. And then the "rrent" sounds more like "runt" than a or e!!! The black" takes as long to say as the whole "current" part. BLACK{yawn}CUrrunt.

I replied to ben5*'s post because sadly while the "and black" drinks are decent ways to make average beer/cider taste fun, British pubs are crap at good soft drinks mixers and use cheap blackcurrant, and I hate it. Not even Ribena, which is too sweet for me nowadaysm anyway! I'll have to buy a furtive bottle of Looza to see if it's any cop.

Great post thank you! Should be a blog entry! Explains why we brits drink a lot of S African and Chilean Cabs and why I've historically loved their simple Biiig Cabs. All blackcurrant, of course! Well, and they're dirt cheap. Mind you, some of the aussie The Strangers (2008) they serve us in Sainsbury's has to be tasted (and uickly thrown up) to be believed.

For the Best pie Ever? a good blackcurrant, or blackcurrant and apple, (and also Blackberry and apple too, made with the small english blackberries, not those awful huge tasteless Californian monsters). Pick em fresh or freee em once you picked them. Yourself, in autumn. Make good custard to go with it, and don't make your short pastry too thick or dry. And get the sugar levels right... not too sweet. Need a bit of tartness.

And I've given up on Gerrard, Rooney et al. I'm rooting for the Argies now. English footballers are mostly thick (notable exceptions: Sheringham, Barnes, Le Saux, and possibly Lineker) all drink crap lager anyway. How can they make sophisticated ballplay and master the round-ball arts if their drinking aesthetic runs only as far as beer's Blue Nun? Oh for the ambition of a Cantona or control of a Brazilian, but in an English shirt.

Phew. Needed that! I think I need some blackcurrant pie now.