Dimple /1970s Plastic Cap
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Dimple /1970s Plastic Cap is a blended whisky. The best price currently available is from for only £ we don’t...
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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 1956 /2008 Gordon & Macphail
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1750
Glen Grant 1956 /2008 Gordon & Macphail is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Glen Grant whisky...
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Glenfarclas 1960 (cask 1771) Family Cask Autumn 2014 Release
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£4700
Glenfarclas 1960 (cask 1771) Family Cask Autumn 2014 Release is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Glenfarclas...
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Glenlochy 1969 26 Year Old Rare Malts
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1500
Glenlochy 1969 26 Year Old Rare Malts is a 26 year old single malt whisky from the Glenlochy whisky distillery...
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Langatun 5 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£99.95
Langatun 5 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) is a 5 year old single malt whisky from the Langatun whisky...
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Loch Lomond 19 Year Old Portrush Open Course Collection
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£145
Loch Lomond 19 Year Old Portrush Open Course Collection is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Loch...
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Mossburn Island Blended Malt Island Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
E150A Free
Our best price:
£40.48
Mossburn Island Blended Malt Island Blended Malt Scotch Whisky is a blended malt whisky. The best price currently available is...
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Teerenpeli Distiller’s Choice Portti
E150A Free
Our best price:
£60.45
Teerenpeli Distiller’s Choice Portti is a whisky. The best price currently available is from The Whisky Exchange for only...
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Tobermory 21 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£96.95
Tobermory 21 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) is a 21 year old single malt whisky from the Tobermory whisky...
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Auchentoshan 10 Year Old /1980s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Auchentoshan 10 Year Old /1980s is a 10 year old single malt whisky from the Auchentoshan whisky distillery (located in...
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BenRiach 9 Year Old 2008 (cask 2048)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£93.6
BenRiach 9 Year Old 2008 (cask 2048) is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the BenRiach whisky distillery....
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Bruichladdich 15 Year Old /1980s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Bruichladdich 15 Year Old /1980s is a 15 year old single malt whisky from the Bruichladdich whisky distillery (located in...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balmenach 1971 16 Year Old Connoisseurs Choice | 0 | 0 | £399 |
| Ileach Cask Strength | 3.8 | 54 | £44.63 |
| Girvan Patent Still 30 Year Old Single Grain Scotch Whisky | 0 | 0 | £385 |
| Vicomte 8 Year Old French | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Aberfeldy 21 Year Old – Batch 2 (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) | 0 | 0 | £148.95 |
| Linlithgow 1975 22 Year Old Silent Stills Signatory | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Banff 1974 /1980s Connoisseurs Choice | 0 | 0 | £450 |
| Mackmyra Skordetid Swedish | 2.5 | 1 | £49.84 |
| Rosebank 28 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) | 0 | 0 | £1158.95 |
| Thompson’s Arran 1996 18 Years Old Sauternes Cask 1835 Island Whisky | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Caol Ila 2011 6 Year Old Koval Bourbon Finish/Peaty DNA | 0 | 0 | £69.95 |
| Glenfarclas 1962 (cask 4126) Family Cask Autumn 2014 Release | 0 | 0 | £4162.66 |
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.