Glen Keith 1996 21 Year Old Single Malts of Scotland
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Glen Keith 1996 21 Year Old Single Malts of Scotland is a 21 year old single malt whisky from the...
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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!
Glenfarclas 8 Year Old’105′ /1970s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£750
Glenfarclas 8 Year Old’105′ /1970s is a 8 year old single malt whisky from the Glenfarclas whisky distillery (located in...
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Glenmorangie 10 Year Old Grand Slam Dram
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Glenmorangie 10 Year Old Grand Slam Dram is a 10 year old single malt whisky from the Glenmorangie whisky distillery...
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Inchgower 2008 11 Year Old Old Malt Cask
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Inchgower 2008 11 Year Old Old Malt Cask is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Inchgower whisky...
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Kentucky Gentleman 4 Year Old /1970s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Kentucky Gentleman 4 Year Old /1970s is a 4 year old whisky. The best price currently available is from for...
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Longmorn 1957 25 Year Old Connoisseurs Choice
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£2000
Longmorn 1957 25 Year Old Connoisseurs Choice is a 25 year old single malt whisky from the Longmorn whisky distillery...
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Strathmill Centenary Decanter (1891-1991)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1200
Strathmill Centenary Decanter (1891-1991) is a 18 year old single malt whisky from the Strathmill whisky distillery (located in the...
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The English Small Batch Virgin Oak English
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£51.95
The English Small Batch Virgin Oak English is a single malt whisky. The best price currently available is from Master...
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Tomatin 1990 28 Year Old Connoisseurs Choice
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£255
Tomatin 1990 28 Year Old Connoisseurs Choice is a 28 year old single malt whisky from the Tomatin whisky distillery...
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Auchroisk 9 Year Old 2009 – Hepburn’s Choice (Langside)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£45.95
Auchroisk 9 Year Old 2009 – Hepburn’s Choice (Langside) is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Auchroisk...
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Edradour 10 Year Old /1990s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£199
Edradour 10 Year Old /1990s is a 10 year old single malt whisky from the Edradour whisky distillery (located in...
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Glen Keith 1997 (bottled 2017) (cask 72629) – Samaroli
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Glen Keith 1997 (bottled 2017) (cask 72629) – Samaroli is a 72 year old single malt whisky from the Glen...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chivas Regal 12 Year Old /1970s | 0 | 0 | £150 |
| Jefferson’s Reserve Very Old | 4 | 12 | £56.25 |
| Armorik Maitre de Chai Batch 3 7 Year Old French | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Croftengea 14 Year Old 2005 (cask 102) – Infrequent Flyers (Alistair W | 0 | 0 | £86.45 |
| Kilchoman Machir Bay | 3.8 | 104 | £42.99 |
| Port Askaig 19 Year Old | 0 | 0 | £92 |
| Blended Malt #1 23 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) Blended Malt Whisky | 5 | 3 | £ |
| Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask | 4.2 | 68 | £51.95 |
| Cragganmore 1985 33 Year Old Signatory 30th Anniversary | 0 | 0 | £595 |
| Glenfarclas Family Cask 1961 (cask 3054) Summer 2014 Release | 0 | 0 | £4995 |
| Bakery Hill Double Wood Australian | 4 | 1 | £125 |
| Craigellachie 13 Year Old 2000 (cask 9730) – Old Malt Cask (Douglas La | 0 | 0 | £ |
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.