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E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£89.95
Cameronbridge 24 Year Old 1995 (cask 8047657) – Infrequent Flyers (Ali Grain Whisky is a 24 year old grain whisky from the Cameronbridge whisky distillery. The best price currently available is from The Whisky Exchange for only £89.95 we don’t have any review data for this grain whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£22
Cutty Sark Storm is a blended whisky. The best price currently available is from Loch Fyne for only £22.0 we don’t have any review data for this blended whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£375
Forties 1975 20 Year Old /1995 is a 20 year old single malt whisky (located in the Speyside region). The best price currently available is from The Whisky Exchange for only £375.0 we don’t have any review data for this single malt whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£68.95
GlenAllachie 2008 10 Year Old is a 24 year old single malt whisky from the Glenallachie whisky distillery (located in the Speyside region). The best price currently available is from The Whisky Exchange for only £68.95 we don’t have any review data for this single malt whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£750
Glenmorangie Cognac Matured is a 14 year old single malt whisky from the Glenmorangie whisky distillery (located in the Highland region). The best price currently available is from The Whisky Exchange for only £750.0 we don’t have any review data for this single malt whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Highland Park 8 Year Old 1992 (Murray McDavid) is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Highland Park whisky distillery (located in the Highland region). The best price currently available is from for only £ we don’t have any review data for this single malt whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
E150A Free
Our best price:
£39.98
Islay & Highland – Double Barrel (Douglas Laing) Blended Malt Whisky is a blended malt whisky (located in the Islay region). The best price currently available is from Master of Malt for only £39.98 we don’t have any review data for this blended malt whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Johnnie Walker Black Label /1970s is a blend whisky. The best price currently available is from for only £ we don’t have any review data for this blend whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£240
Limeburners Directors Cut Australian is a single malt whisky from the Limeburners whisky distillery. The best price currently available is from The Whisky Exchange for only £240.0 we don’t have any review data for this single malt whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£900
Macallan 1841 Replica is a 18 year old single malt whisky from the Macallan whisky distillery (located in the Speyside region). The best price currently available is from The Whisky Exchange for only £900.0 we don’t have any review data for this single malt whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Midleton Very Rare 1997 Blended Whiskey is a 19 year old blended whisky from the Midleton whisky distillery. The best price currently available is from for only £ we don’t have any review data for this blended whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Octomore 5 Year Old Edition 05.1 169ppm is a 5 year old single malt whisky from the Bruichladdich whisky distillery (located in the Islay region). The best price currently available is from for only £ we don’t have any review data for this single malt whisky yet, let us know what you think in the comments below.
| Whisky Bottle |
Rating |
Reviews |
Price |
| Ardmore 19 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) |
0 |
0 |
£82.95 |
| Ardmore 2008 9 Year Old Vintage Casks #6 Mossburn |
0 |
0 |
£56.95 |
| Convalmore 1984 32 Year Old Special Releases 2017 |
0 |
0 |
£1200 |
| Strathmill 21 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) |
0 |
0 |
£89.95 |
| Balvenie 21 Year Old Madeira Cask Finish |
0 |
0 |
£221.84 |
| Glenlossie 1971 /1980s Connoisseurs Choice |
0 |
0 |
£399 |
| Cameronbridge 25 Year Old 300 years at the Brig Single Whisky |
0 |
0 |
£275 |
| Togouchi Premium Blended Whisky Japanese Blended Whisky |
3.1 |
21 |
£39.9 |
| Ardbeg Exploration Pack |
4.1 |
705 |
£ |
| Big Peat Edinburgh – Edition #2 Blended Malt Whisky |
0 |
0 |
£ |
| Hankey Bannister 12 Year Old Regency |
4 |
4 |
£28.95 |
| Kavalan Solist Pedro Ximenez Cask #032A (2010) Taiwanese Whisky |
0 |
0 |
£460 |
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.
