Irish Single Malt #2 13 Year Old That Boutique-y Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Irish Single Malt #2 13 Year Old That Boutique-y Whisky is a 13 year old single malt whisky. The best...
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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!
Jim Beam Double Oak Gift Set Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£24.95
Jim Beam Double Oak Gift Set Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a bourbon whiskey from the Jim Beam whisky distillery....
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Ledaig 11 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£51.95
Ledaig 11 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) is a 11 year old single malt whisky. The best price currently...
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North Port Brechin 1981 36 Year Old Signatory 30th Anniversary
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1275
North Port Brechin 1981 36 Year Old Signatory 30th Anniversary is a 36 year old single malt whisky from the...
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Talisker 1977 35 Year Old
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1750
Talisker 1977 35 Year Old is a 35 year old single malt whisky from the Talisker whisky distillery. The best...
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Blair Athol 8 Year Old 2008 (cask 307749, 307750 & 310064) – Small Bat
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Blair Athol 8 Year Old 2008 (cask 307749, 307750 & 310064) – Small Bat is a 31 year old single...
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Craigellachie 12 Year Old 2006 (cask 6795) – Old Malt Cask (Hunter Lai
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£60.95
Craigellachie 12 Year Old 2006 (cask 6795) – Old Malt Cask (Hunter Lai is a 20 year old single malt...
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Famous Grouse Winter Reserve (1L) Blended Whisky
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£
Famous Grouse Winter Reserve (1L) Blended Whisky is a 1 year old blended whisky. The best price currently available is...
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Glen Scotia 1992 /2015 The MacPhail’s Collection
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£106
Glen Scotia 1992 /2015 The MacPhail’s Collection is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Glen Scotia whisky...
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Glenglassaugh 40 Year Old
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1197.6
Glenglassaugh 40 Year Old is a 40 year old single malt whisky from the Glenglassaugh whisky distillery. The best price...
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Glenugie 1976 25 Year Old Signatory
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£750
Glenugie 1976 25 Year Old Signatory is a 25 year old single malt whisky from the Glenugie whisky distillery (located...
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Highland Park 1977 21 Year Old Bicentenary Island Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1000
Highland Park 1977 21 Year Old Bicentenary Island Whisky is a 21 year old single malt whisky from the Highland...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auchentoshan 24 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) | 0 | 0 | £129.95 |
| Mackmyra Appelblom | 3 | 2 | £42.95 |
| Canadian Club Canadian Whisky | 4.2 | 141 | £18 |
| Port Ellen 1970 17 Year Old Connoisseurs Choice | 0 | 0 | £1500 |
| Pikesville Straight Rye Whiskey | 0 | 0 | £54.95 |
| Speyside 10 Year Old Adelphi Selection | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Highland Park 1987 28 Year Old Silver Seal Island Whisky | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Glen Albyn 10 Year Old /1970s | 0 | 0 | £550 |
| Dalmore Regalis 1l | 4 | 1 | £69.95 |
| Reference Series I.3 Blended Malt Whisky | 5 | 1 | £52.95 |
| Aberlour 1964 25 Year Old Sherry Cask | 0 | 0 | £1100 |
| Dailuaine 1980 34 Year Old Special Releases 2015 | 0 | 0 | £475 |
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.