Box Advanced Master Class Course 1 Toasting 5x20cl
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£163
Box Advanced Master Class Course 1 Toasting 5x20cl is a 5 year old whisky. The best price currently available is...
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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!
Caol Ila 2003 /2015 Distillers Edition
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£74.95
Caol Ila 2003 /2015 Distillers Edition is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Caol Ila whisky distillery...
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Glencadam 25 Year Old ‘The Remarkable’ Batch 2
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£224.54
Glencadam 25 Year Old ‘The Remarkable’ Batch 2 is a 25 year old single malt whisky from the Glencadam whisky...
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Glenlivet 1965 G&M Smith’s Label
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1000
Glenlivet 1965 G&M Smith’s Label is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Glenlivet whisky distillery (located in...
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Highland Park Yesnaby
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Highland Park Yesnaby is a single malt whisky from the Highland Park whisky distillery (located in the Highland region). The...
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Isle of Jura 21 Year Old
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£150
Isle of Jura 21 Year Old is a 21 year old single malt whisky from the Isle of Jura whisky...
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Linkwood 1974 42 Year Old Rare Reserve Signatory
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£690
Linkwood 1974 42 Year Old Rare Reserve Signatory is a 42 year old single malt whisky from the Linkwood whisky...
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Macallan Estate Reserve 1824 Collection
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£250
Macallan Estate Reserve 1824 Collection is a 18 year old single malt whisky from the Macallan whisky distillery (located in...
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Miltonduff 1981 36 Year Old Adelphi
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
Miltonduff 1981 36 Year Old Adelphi is a 36 year old single malt whisky from the Miltonduff whisky distillery (located...
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Stalk & Barrel Cask Strength Canadian Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£63.95
Stalk & Barrel Cask Strength Canadian Whisky is a whisky. The best price currently available is from The Whisky...
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Bell’s Christmas 1988
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£299
Bell’s Christmas 1988 is a 19 year old blend whisky. The best price currently available is from The Whisky Exchange...
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Caol Ila 2004 Distillers Edition
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£69.95
Caol Ila 2004 Distillers Edition is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Caol Ila whisky distillery (located...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fettercairn 1997 21 Year Old Signatory | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Glengoyne Cask Strength Batch 7 | 0 | 0 | £50.95 |
| Springbank 26 Year Old 1991 – Single Cask (Master of Malt) | 0 | 0 | £482.95 |
| Glenfarclas 10 Year Old | 4.5 | 90 | £28.99 |
| Glenmorangie Bacalta | 0 | 0 | £84.95 |
| Highland Park The Dark 17 Year Old | 4.6 | 11 | £190 |
| Dry Fly 4 Year Old Triticale French Oak Finish (La Maison du Whisky 60 Grain Whiskey | 0 | 0 | £72.59 |
| Royal Brackla 16 Year Old | 3.6 | 13 | £79.9 |
| Dimple Gold Selection | 4 | 7 | £31.75 |
| Octomore 2010 Edition 07.3 5 Year Old Islay Barley | 0 | 0 | £165 |
| Edradour 10 Year Old Glass Pack | 0 | 0 | £51.95 |
| Isle of Jura 1984 30 Year Old | 0 | 0 | £ |
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.