Brora 1982 /2002 G&M Reserve
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1000
Brora 1982 /2002 G&M Reserve is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Brora whisky distillery (located in...
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Spirit Caramel (E150A)
If you’d rather the complete list you can find it here, be warned it takes a while to load though!
Glen Grant 15 Year Old Batch Strength
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£77.95
Glen Grant 15 Year Old Batch Strength is a 15 year old single malt whisky from the Glen Grant whisky...
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Glenfarclas 15 Year Old /1980s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£600
Glenfarclas 15 Year Old /1980s is a 15 year old single malt whisky from the Glenfarclas whisky distillery (located in...
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Hyde 1916 No.3 the Aras Cask Single Grain Irish Single Grain Whiskey
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£39.95
Hyde 1916 No.3 the Aras Cask Single Grain Irish Single Grain Whiskey is a 19 year old grain whisky. The...
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Lismore 5 Year Old Special Reserve Blended Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£21.67
Lismore 5 Year Old Special Reserve Blended Whisky is a 5 year old blended whisky. The best price currently available...
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Macduff 21 Year Old 1997 (cask 15366) – The First Editions (Hunter Lai
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£96.95
Macduff 21 Year Old 1997 (cask 15366) – The First Editions (Hunter Lai is a 21 year old single malt...
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Mortlach 2005 12 Year Old Old Particular
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Mortlach 2005 12 Year Old Old Particular is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Mortlach whisky distillery...
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Sonoma Distilling Co Rye California Rye Whiskey
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£45.23
Sonoma Distilling Co Rye California Rye Whiskey is a rye whisky. The best price currently available is from Master of...
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Benriach 2008 10 Year Old Old Particular
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Benriach 2008 10 Year Old Old Particular is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the BenRiach whisky distillery...
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Brora 1982 Connoisseurs Choice
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£800
Brora 1982 Connoisseurs Choice is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Brora whisky distillery (located in the...
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Cask Speyside 10 Year Old First Edition
E150A Free
Our best price:
£35.95
Cask Speyside 10 Year Old First Edition is a 10 year old single malt whisky (located in the Speyside region)....
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Glen Grant 18 Year Old + 2 Glasses Pack
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£130
Glen Grant 18 Year Old + 2 Glasses Pack is a 18 year old single malt whisky from the Glen...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caol Ila 18 Year Old Special Releases 2017 | 4 | 4 | £97.95 |
| Glenesk 1974 30 Year Old Old Malt Cask | 0 | 0 | £700 |
| MacNair’s Lum Reek 12 Year Old Blended Malt Whisky | 4.3 | 3 | £49.95 |
| William Grant 1990 Velier 2 25 Year Old 70ans Velier | 0 | 0 | £369.95 |
| Michter’s US*1 Small Batch Bourbon Gift Box American Whiskey | 0 | 0 | £53.95 |
| The Glenlivet Archive 21 Year Old | 4.5 | 87 | £188 |
| SMWS 56.5 1977 /1993 | 0 | 0 | £750 |
| Glenlochy 1980 25 Year Old Signatory | 0 | 0 | £750 |
| Inchgower 2007 10 Year Old Provenance | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Strathmill 1996 22 Year Old Signatory | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Glann Ar Mor Marris Otter Barley French | 0 | 0 | £70.75 |
| Glen Grant 38 Year Old /1980s Gordon & Macphail | 0 | 0 | £2000 |
What is E150A spirit caramel and why do I care?
E150A is a food colouring agent created by burning sugar, it’s permitted as a food colour world wide and can be used to colour whisky. It’s the same stuff that’s added to Coa Cola and Pepsi to give them their dark brown colour and it’s regularly added to a number of grain whiskies, blends and even single malts.
Why are whisky brands adding colour to their whisky?
Spirit caramel is added to whisky for two reasons; firstly to normalise the colour between different batches of whisky and in some cases to enhance the natural colour of the whisky. How much of each occurs is a rather complex question as no brand would readily admit to manipulation of their whisky to mislead consumers.
E150A use for normalisation:
Because blends, and even single malt whiskies, use a mix of different casks in order to try and replicate their signature whisky styles. As every cask is different blending purely to replicate flavour can lead to colour differences between batches. A Laphroaig 10 from 5 years ago might taste virtually identical to one produced today but may be much lighter, or much darker depending on the casks used. To avoid confusion among consumers distilleries many distilleries ‘normalise’ the difference through the addition of E150A.
E150A for enhancement:
At the other end of the spectrum is the role of enhancement and this is particularly prevelant among the lower priced supermarket blends. When whisky is first distilled it’s crystal clear and looks like water, or vodka. The golden or even brown colour is a result of interaction with the barrel it is stored in. For cheaper whiskies older barrels are used and these impart less colour, they often favour larger barrels as well which means less interaction with the liquid (as a smaller barrel offers more liquid to surface area). To avoid these bottles ending up on the shelf looking like off-colour vodka spirit caramelis added to ensure the anticipated golden brown is present. In other instances such as Dalmore
Does E150A change the flavour of whisky?
Yes, E150A does change the taste of a whisky. That is our decided opinion, while countless brand ambasadors will dispute this point, or denounce us and refuse to debate the point we’ve done the leg work and are firmly of the position that E150A does change the flavour of the whisky.
We’ve conducted blind and double blind taste tests using E150A from multiple suppliers, and even using minscule amounts the taste profile does shift slightly. Interestingly this change is not always detrimental and E150A seems on occasion to round out a whisky. In most cases the whiskies are identified as being different, in some the whisky with caramel is preferred, in others the whisky without. There’s no added sweetness (E150A is very bitter) but no obvious bitterness added to the whisky unless absurd amounts are used, so we’re not condemning anyone for the use of spirit caramel. That said in the interest of consumer fairness we feel that consumers should be able to find out what’s in their bottle.
How do we get our list of whiskies containing spirit caramel?
By law any whiskies containing E150A sold in Germany have to list it as an additive, on their websites this usually appears as ‘mit Farbstoff’ or ‘enthält Farbstoff’ both meaning the spirit contains dye. We’ve scraped a number of German whisky websites and matched their ‘EAN’ and bottles details against the bottles we pricecheck using multiple validations to confirm*.
*Ultimately this system is far from perfect, distilleries change their output and bottles that did contain spirit caramel may change their process. It’s also not completely inconceivable that a whisky could contain caramel for one market and not in another, however unlikely this might be. So until the distilleries are prepared to have a grown up conversation, we’ll do everything in our power to keep our DB up to date. Let us know via the contact form if you find any issues.