Edradour 10 Year Old /1990s
Our best price:
£199
Edradour 10 Year Old /1990s is a 10 year old single malt whisky from the Edradour whisky distillery (located in...
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Whiskies may contain Spirit Caramel (E150A)
The bottles listed below are as yet unclassified, they may contain E150A, they may not. We’re working hard to find out. If you can point us to any information about their caramel content that would be much appreciated!
Glen Keith 1997 (bottled 2017) (cask 72629) – Samaroli
Our best price:
£
Glen Keith 1997 (bottled 2017) (cask 72629) – Samaroli is a 72 year old single malt whisky from the Glen...
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Glenfarclas Family Cask 1961 (cask 3054) Summer 2014 Release
Our best price:
£4995
Glenfarclas Family Cask 1961 (cask 3054) Summer 2014 Release is a 30 year old single malt whisky from the Glenfarclas...
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Glentauchers 20 Year Old 1997 (cask 3844) – Candlelight Series (Whisky
Our best price:
£
Glentauchers 20 Year Old 1997 (cask 3844) – Candlelight Series (Whisky is a 38 year old single malt whisky from...
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Highland Harvest Organic Single Malt Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Our best price:
£34.95
Highland Harvest Organic Single Malt Single Malt Scotch Whisky is a single malt whisky (located in the Highland region). The...
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Laphroaig 20 Year Old 1998 (casks 6835 & 6837) – Dun Bheagan (Ian Macl
Our best price:
£
Laphroaig 20 Year Old 1998 (casks 6835 & 6837) – Dun Bheagan (Ian Macl is a 68 year old single...
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Mannochmore 1998 Managers’ Choice Sherry Cask
Our best price:
£299
Mannochmore 1998 Managers’ Choice Sherry Cask is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Mannochmore whisky distillery (located...
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Port Ellen 1983 26 Year Old Signatory
Our best price:
£1000
Port Ellen 1983 26 Year Old Signatory is a 26 year old single malt whisky from the Port Ellen whisky...
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Auld Alliance Whisky Armagnac Blend
Our best price:
£250
Auld Alliance Whisky Armagnac Blend is a blended whisky. The best price currently available is from The Whisky Exchange for...
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Berry Bros & Rudd Speyside Blended Malt Speyside Blended Malt
Our best price:
£31.25
Berry Bros & Rudd Speyside Blended Malt Speyside Blended Malt is a blended malt whisky (located in the Speyside region)....
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Bunnahabhain 11 Year Old 2006 – Single Cask (Master of Malt)
Our best price:
£
Bunnahabhain 11 Year Old 2006 – Single Cask (Master of Malt) is a 20 year old single malt whisky from...
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Glen Keith 1997 21 Year Old Signatory
Our best price:
£110
Glen Keith 1997 21 Year Old Signatory is a 72 year old single malt whisky from the Glen Keith whisky...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Keith 19 Year Old 1995 – Single Cask (Master of Malt) | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Balblair 40 Year Old SMoS | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Glen Moray Rhum Agricole Finish Project | 0 | 0 | £52.95 |
| Linkwood 1997 21 Year Old Old Particular | 0 | 0 | £139.57 |
| Widow Jane 10 Year Old /2018 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey | 4 | 1 | £70 |
| Cutty Sark /1970s | 4 | 3 | £ |
| Glenlivet 1974 /2011 Gordon & MacPhail | 0 | 0 | £500 |
| JP Wiser’s Canada Day Canadian Whisky | 0 | 0 | £34.95 |
| McCallum’s Perfection /1980s Half Bottle | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Inchgower 1997 21 Year Old Old Particular | 0 | 0 | £101.95 |
| Jack Ryan Beggars Bush 12 Year Old Single Malt Whiskey | 4 | 8 | £52.43 |
| Royal Brackla 11 Year Old 2007 (cask 307918) – Signatory | 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’. 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.