I Found Some Looza Blackcurrant 'Nectar'...what now?

[Evan!]

So I went around town last night searching for blackcurrants, in any form possible, for my Unibroue Ephemere Cassis clone. At Whole Foods, I found blackcurrant preserves. They contain blackcurrant fruit, grape juice concentrate for sugar, and pectin. I'm thinking I'll add this stuff to the secondary vessel.

In addition, I found something I wasn't expecting: those "Looza Nectars" come in a blackcurrant version. Picked up a big jug of it. Now, that's a bit different---it contains water, blackcurrant juice, and sugar...which means refined sugar. In a big bottle of this stuff, I'm looking at roughly 140 grams (5 ounces) of sugar. As I'm wary of adding too much refined sugar (want to avoid that cidery taste), I'm curious if this is too much? According to ProMash, if I add 5 ounces of sugar, I raise my OG by 0.003.

I was thinking of adding some of the Nectar at the end of the boil, and then, when I add the preserves to the secondary, I'll mix in some of the Nectar with it.

Thoughts?

 

[New2brew2]

How did this turn out? I am looking at doing something very similar to a lambic I have started. I have 10 gallons of an ale that I soured during the mash. I want to add rasperries to one and black currant to the other. If you could tell me the proportions you used it would be a big help.

 

[Evan!]

The only thing the nectar and jam helped with was the color. The beer, in the end, required blackcurrant flavoring from AHS to really get that Ephemere Cassis flavor.

Alternately, you could look for black currants when they're in season. Unfortunately, I have no clue when that is.