Kilbeggan Rye Whiskey
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£34.95
Kilbeggan Rye Whiskey is a rye whisky from the Kilbeggan whisky distillery. Rated an average of 3.5 out of 5...
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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!
Compass Box The Story of the Spaniard Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
E150A Free
Our best price:
£48
Compass Box The Story of the Spaniard Blended Malt Scotch Whisky is a blended malt whisky. Rated an average of...
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Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky Single Grain South African Whisky
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£27.95
Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky Single Grain South African Whisky is a grain whisky. Rated an average of 3.5 out of...
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Aberlour 18 Year Old Half Litre
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£104.85
Aberlour 18 Year Old Half Litre is a 18 year old single malt whisky from the Aberlour whisky distillery (located...
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White Horse
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£24.95
White Horse is a blended whisky. Rated an average of 3.5 out of 5 by 10 reviewers and available from...
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Black Velvet Canadian Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£24.95
Black Velvet Canadian Whisky is a blended whisky from the Black Velvet whisky distillery. Rated an average of 3.5 out...
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Laphroaig Four Oak
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£63.9
Laphroaig Four Oak is a 1 year old single malt whisky from the Laphroaig whisky distillery (located in the Islay...
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Cragganmore 2005 Distillers Edition
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£62.45
Cragganmore 2005 Distillers Edition is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Cragganmore whisky distillery (located in the...
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Peat’s Beast Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Contains E150A
Our best price:
£41.83
Peat’s Beast Single Malt Scotch Whisky is a single malt whisky. Rated an average of 3.5 out of 5 by...
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Balcones Baby Blue
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£48.95
Balcones Baby Blue is a corn whisky from the Balcones Distilling whisky distillery. Rated an average of 3.5 out of...
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Balcones Brimstone Texas Spirit
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£72.95
Balcones Brimstone Texas Spirit is a corn whisky from the Balcones Distilling whisky distillery. Rated an average of 3.5 out...
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Bunnahabhain Stiuireadair
E150A Free
Our best price:
£27.5
Bunnahabhain Stiuireadair is a single malt whisky from the Bunnahabhain whisky distillery (located in the Islay region). Rated an average...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dawson’s Old Curio /1950s Spring Cap | 0 | 0 | £500 |
| Macallan 25 Year Old Sherry Oak 2018 Release | 0 | 0 | £1500 |
| Benriach 2008 10 Year Old Old Particular | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Jura 16 Year Old 2002 (cask 95181) – Dun Bheagan (Ian Macleod) | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Jefferson’s Ch. Suduiraut Finish Grand Selection | 0 | 0 | £125 |
| Speyside 26 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) | 0 | 0 | £104.95 |
| BenRiach 10 Year Old 2007 (cask 8731) | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Glenrothes 8 Year Old /1970s | 0 | 0 | £450 |
| Alex Ferguson /1930s | 0 | 0 | £499 |
| Kavalan Solist Bourbon Cask #025A (2010) Taiwanese | 0 | 0 | £110 |
| Bushmills Sherry Cask Reserve – Steamship Collection Single Malt Whiskey | 3.6 | 13 | £62.77 |
| JP Wiser’s 18 Year Old Blended Canadian Whisky | 4.5 | 1 | £35.74 |
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.