Winchester Rye Whiskey
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£33.95
Winchester Rye Whiskey is a rye whisky. The best price currently available is from Master of Malt for only £33.95...
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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!
Bowmore 12 Year Old Glass Pack
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£32
Bowmore 12 Year Old Glass Pack is a 12 year old single malt whisky from the Bowmore whisky distillery (located...
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Cameronbridge 1984 33 Year Old Signatory Single Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Cameronbridge 1984 33 Year Old Signatory Single Whisky is a 33 year old grain whisky from the Cameronbridge whisky distillery....
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Cu Bocan Creation #1
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£32.99
Cu Bocan Creation #1 is a single malt whisky. The best price currently available is from The Green Welly Spot...
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Finlaggan Red Wine Finish
E150A Free
Our best price:
£
Finlaggan Red Wine Finish is a whisky. The best price currently available is from for only £ we don’t...
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Glenallachie 1992 25 Year Old Old Particular
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Glenallachie 1992 25 Year Old Old Particular is a 25 year old single malt whisky from the Glenallachie whisky distillery...
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Glenmorangie Bacalta
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£84.95
Glenmorangie Bacalta is a single malt whisky from the Glenmorangie whisky distillery (located in the Highland region). The best price...
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Highland Park 40 Year Old
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£2300
Highland Park 40 Year Old is a 40 year old single malt whisky from the Highland Park whisky distillery (located...
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Islay #2 25 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£154.95
Islay #2 25 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) is a 25 year old single malt whisky (located in the...
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John Walker Private Collection Midnight Blend 28 Year Old Blended Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
John Walker Private Collection Midnight Blend 28 Year Old Blended Whisky is a 20 year old blended whisky. The best...
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Ledaig2007 11 Year Old Burgundy Finish Collective 2.2 Island Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£119.63
Ledaig2007 11 Year Old Burgundy Finish Collective 2.2 Island Whisky is a 20 year old single malt whisky. The best...
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Midleton Very Rare /2016 Blended Irish Whiskey
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£250
Midleton Very Rare /2016 Blended Irish Whiskey is a 20 year old blended whisky from the Midleton whisky distillery. The...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glenrothes 1972 23 Year Old | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Laphroaig QA Cask 1l | 4.5 | 14 | £ |
| Glenallachie Distillery Edition | 4.5 | 21 | £32 |
| Stauning KAOS Whisky /2017 Danish Whisky | 0 | 0 | £79.95 |
| Secret’ Speyside 2003 14 Year Old The Exclusive Malts | 0 | 0 | £79.75 |
| Tomatin Cask Strength Edition | 0 | 0 | £50.95 |
| Blair Athol 12 Year Old Bicentenary | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Longmorn 1955 24 Year Old Connoisseur’s Choice | 0 | 0 | £2000 |
| Bell’s Princess Beatrice (1988) | 0 | 0 | £60.75 |
| Wemyss Malts Peat Chimney 8 Year Old Blended Malt Scotch Whisky | 0 | 0 | £5.45 |
| Connemara Turf Mor Single Malt Whiskey | 5 | 1 | £53.95 |
| Tullibardine 228 Burgundy Finish | 3.9 | 140 | £32.5 |
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.