How do I make a blackcurrant and Guinness?

January 12, 2008 12:36 PM

How do I properly add blackcurrant to Guinness?

I know that I'm probably "killing the flavor" by doing so or that it's "girly" but I want to try blackcurrant and Guinness, which is suppose to add sweetness to the Guinness.

Maybe I sound stupid but - how do I properly add blackcurrant to the Guinness? I'm using Ribena Blackcurrant Concentrate but for some reason, it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. It says that a properly prepared one should make the head of the Guinness purple but I can't get it like that.

I've tried looking online, though most of the recipes say "Add blackcurrant to the Guinness" without saying how much. So how much should I add and when so I can get a sweeter Guinness?

posted by champthom to food & drink (7 comments total)

Put about a shot's worth of blackcurrant in your pint glass. Then about two shots of Guinness. Let it settle; it should foam up a bit. After a couple of minutes, fill the glass the rest of the way up with Guinness. If that's not doing it for you, try it again, this time adding about two shots of blackcurrant before the Guinness. You might also want to try it with actual blackcurrant cordial (if you're in America, it'll be called "Creme de Cassis") rather than simply using Ribena, although of course that'll make your drink stronger.
posted by infinitywaltz at 12:58 PM on January 12, 2008 [2 favorites]

Infinitywaltz' technique was the one I always used when bartending at home in Ireland, though in pubs we'd just pour it as your standard pint after adding a shot or so of cordial. The regulars seemed to like that fine. (We used Ribena too, not the blackcurrant liqueurs the Yanks use). I don't recall the blackcurrant making the head purple or it being particularly sweet to be honest. Where'd you read your instructions?
posted by jamesonandwater at 1:12 PM on January 12, 2008

as jamesonandwater says I admit to drinking this as an underage tippler in bars in Ireland. It never made the head purple. That would require so much creme de cassis that it wouldn't be Guiness anymore (more like Gneas) so what's the point?

If the point is getting a purple head on a Guiness you are beyond earthly assistance.
posted by Wilder at 2:48 PM on January 12, 2008

"Purple head?" Oh dear.
posted by rxrfrx at 4:50 PM on January 12, 2008

When I drank it as a kid the barmen would just pour the blackcurrant into the glass after pouring the Guinness. However, this was in the outer extremities of Ireland in a hotel bar/nightclub whose pints of plain were rather disturbingly bitter (in other words crap) and needed vast quantites of sweetener to make it palatable to my then young and tender tongue.

So my advise is pour your pint, and see how much blackcurrant you can add. :)
posted by zaphod at 7:18 PM on January 12, 2008

Adding raspberry to Guinness makes the head slightly pink-tinged - could the resource you're using have the two confused?
posted by goo at 4:56 AM on January 13, 2008

Add a shot of blackcurrant first, you can always give it a stir as the guinness is going in if you're not getting results otherwise.

If you want a boozer's alternative then consider adding 1-2 shots of Tia Maria as the sweetener instead of blackcurrant.
posted by biffa at 1:39 AM on January 14, 2008