The Macallan 18 Year Old 1993 Sherry Oak
E150A Free
Our best price:
£
The Macallan 18 Year Old 1993 Sherry Oak is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Macallan 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!
Tomintoul 2004 13 Year Old Cask #5
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£95.7
Tomintoul 2004 13 Year Old Cask #5 is a 13 year old single malt whisky from the Tomintoul whisky distillery...
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Bowmore 15 Year Old Glasgow Garden Ceramic (1988)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£750
Bowmore 15 Year Old Glasgow Garden Ceramic (1988) is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Bowmore whisky...
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Cameronbridge 21 Year Old 1997 – Connoisseurs Choice (Gordon & Macphai Grain Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£111.95
Cameronbridge 21 Year Old 1997 – Connoisseurs Choice (Gordon & Macphai Grain Whisky is a 21 year old grain whisky...
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Flatnose Blended Malt Blended Malt Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£34.99
Flatnose Blended Malt Blended Malt Whisky is a 70 year old blended malt whisky. The best price currently available is...
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GlenAllachie 2005 13 Year Old Single Cask
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
GlenAllachie 2005 13 Year Old Single Cask is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Glenallachie whisky distillery...
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Glengoyne 8 Year Old /1970s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£350
Glengoyne 8 Year Old /1970s is a 8 year old single malt whisky from the Glengoyne whisky distillery (located in...
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Glenury Royal 1973 30 Year Old Sherry Cask Signatory
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£750
Glenury Royal 1973 30 Year Old Sherry Cask Signatory is a 30 year old single malt whisky from the Glenury...
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Personalised 18 Year Old Scotch Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£99.95
Personalised 18 Year Old Scotch Whisky is a 18 year old single malt whisky (located in the Highland region). The...
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Single Malt Irish Whiskey 8 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£52.95
Single Malt Irish Whiskey 8 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) is a 8 year old single malt whisky. The...
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Springbank 26 Year Old 1991 – Single Cask (Master of Malt)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£482.95
Springbank 26 Year Old 1991 – Single Cask (Master of Malt) is a 26 year old single malt whisky from...
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Talisker 8 Year Old /1980s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£850
Talisker 8 Year Old /1980s is a 8 year old single malt whisky from the Talisker whisky distillery. The best...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glenlossie 25 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) | 0 | 0 | £119.95 |
| Green Spot Chateau Montelena Finish Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey | 0 | 0 | £54.75 |
| 8O8 Whisky (808) Grain Whisky | 4 | 14 | £26.95 |
| Connemara Distillers Edition Peated Gift Pack | 0 | 0 | £56.95 |
| Laphroaig 21 Year Old 1997 – Single Cask (Master of Malt) | 1 | 1 | £574.95 |
| Linlithgow 1982 28 Year Old Signatory | 0 | 0 | £750 |
| Glenglassaugh 1978 36 Year Old For The Nectar | 0 | 0 | £750 |
| Pittyvaich 1989 20 Year Old | 0 | 0 | £299 |
| Strathisla 1957 /2007 Gordon & MacPhail | 0 | 0 | £2300 |
| Bruichladdich Barley Exploration Gift Pack 3x20cl | 0 | 0 | £74.95 |
| Oban 14 Year Old /1980s | 0 | 0 | £235 |
| Writers Tears Coper Pot | 4.5 | 54 | £33.99 |
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.