Biltmore Pure Rye Whiskey /1920s Hiram Walker
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1500
Biltmore Pure Rye Whiskey /1920s Hiram Walker is a rye whisky. The best price currently available is from The Whisky...
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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!
Bunnahabhain 1988 Luxury Damson Jam Wemyss Malts
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Bunnahabhain 1988 Luxury Damson Jam Wemyss Malts is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Bunnahabhain whisky distillery...
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Edradour 2009 10 Year Old Sherry Cask
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Edradour 2009 10 Year Old Sherry Cask is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Edradour whisky distillery...
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Glen Moray 10 Year Old 2007 – Single Cask (Master of Malt)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Glen Moray 10 Year Old 2007 – Single Cask (Master of Malt) is a 20 year old single malt whisky...
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Glenmorangie 18 Year Old /1990s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£275
Glenmorangie 18 Year Old /1990s is a 18 year old single malt whisky from the Glenmorangie whisky distillery (located in...
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Longmorn 1973 21 Year Old Sherry Cask Signatory
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Longmorn 1973 21 Year Old Sherry Cask Signatory is a 21 year old single malt whisky from the Longmorn whisky...
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Tomatin 21 Year Old – Batch 1 (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£137.95
Tomatin 21 Year Old – Batch 1 (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) is a 21 year old single malt whisky from...
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Aberfeldy 21 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£148.95
Aberfeldy 21 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) is a 21 year old single malt whisky from the Aberfeldy whisky...
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Aultmore 28 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£179.95
Aultmore 28 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) is a 28 year old single malt whisky from the Aultmore whisky...
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Bimber New Make Spirit Artful Dodger Whisky Collective
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£43
Bimber New Make Spirit Artful Dodger Whisky Collective is a 63 year old single malt whisky from the Bimber whisky...
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Bunnahabhain 1989 27 Year Old Dun Bheagan
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£270
Bunnahabhain 1989 27 Year Old Dun Bheagan is a 58 year old single malt whisky from the Bunnahabhain whisky distillery...
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Glen Moray 10 Year Old 2008 (Adelphi)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£76.22
Glen Moray 10 Year Old 2008 (Adelphi) is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Glen Moray whisky...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Maple Hill Rye Whiskey | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Firean Blended Whisky | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Sexton Single Malt Irish Whiskey Single Malt Irish Whiskey | 4.6 | 29 | £29.99 |
| Tomatin 12 Year Old Small Bottle | 0 | 0 | £18.75 |
| Glenmorangie 1974 /1997 | 0 | 0 | £800 |
| Mars Komagatake Single Malt (2018 Edition) | 0 | 0 | £115 |
| James E Pepper 1776 Barrel Proof Rye Straight Rye Whiskey | 4.5 | 2 | £54.25 |
| Caol Ila 1984 32 Year Old Statement No.23 | 0 | 0 | £485 |
| Glen Mhor 1965 /2007 Gordon & MacPhail | 0 | 0 | £660 |
| Japanese Whisky Advent Calendar (2019 Edition) Blended Whisky | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Barr an Uisce Wicklow Rare Blended Whiskey | 0 | 0 | £39.95 |
| Eddu Gold Grain Whisky | 0 | 0 | £77.78 |
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.