Talisker 1958 /1980s Gordon & MacPhail Island Whisky
Our best price:
£2500
Talisker 1958 /1980s Gordon & MacPhail Island Whisky is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Talisker whisky...
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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!
Sacred Peated English Whisky
Our best price:
£47.95
Sacred Peated English Whisky is a single malt whisky. The best price currently available is from Master of Malt for...
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Akashi 6 Year Old Red Wine Cask Japanese
Our best price:
£132.95
Akashi 6 Year Old Red Wine Cask Japanese is a 61 year old single malt whisky. The best price currently...
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Ballantine’s 17 Year Old /1980s
Our best price:
£
Ballantine’s 17 Year Old /1980s is a 17 year old blended whisky from the Ballantine whisky distillery. The best price...
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Craigellachie 11 Year Old 2006 (cask 901035) (Scotland Grindlay)
Our best price:
£
Craigellachie 11 Year Old 2006 (cask 901035) (Scotland Grindlay) is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Craigellachie...
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Glen Scotia 1969 30 Year Old Old Malt Cask
Our best price:
£1750
Glen Scotia 1969 30 Year Old Old Malt Cask is a 30 year old single malt whisky from the Glen...
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Glenugie 1967 Connoisseurs Choice
Our best price:
£700
Glenugie 1967 Connoisseurs Choice is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Glenugie whisky distillery (located in the...
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Highland Park 1976 25 Year Old First Cask Island Whisky
Our best price:
£500
Highland Park 1976 25 Year Old First Cask Island Whisky is a 25 year old single malt whisky from the...
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Kinclaith 1966 16 Year Old Connoisseurs Choice
Our best price:
£1200
Kinclaith 1966 16 Year Old Connoisseurs Choice is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Kinclaith whisky distillery...
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Secret’ Speyside 2003 14 Year Old The Exclusive Malts
Our best price:
£79.75
Secret’ Speyside 2003 14 Year Old The Exclusive Malts is a 20 year old single malt whisky (located in the...
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Springbank 1992 Da Mhile
Our best price:
£325
Springbank 1992 Da Mhile is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Springbank whisky distillery (located in the...
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Wild Turkey 13 Year Old Distiller’s Reserve
Our best price:
£
Wild Turkey 13 Year Old Distiller’s Reserve is a 13 year old whisky from the Wild Turkey whisky distillery. The...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glenesk /1970s | 0 | 0 | £1000 |
| Dumbarton 31 Year Old 1987 (cask 15801) – The Sovereign (Hunter Laing) Grain Whisky | 0 | 0 | £114.95 |
| Islay Mist 8 Year Old /1970s | 0 | 0 | £450 |
| I W Harper Gold Medal 4 Year Old /1980s | 0 | 0 | £250 |
| Singleton of Glendullan 38 Year Old Special Releases 2014 | 0 | 0 | £899 |
| Linlithgow 1982 17 Year Old Signatory | 0 | 0 | £699 |
| Single Cask Whisky Advent Calendar (2019 Edition) Blended Whisky | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Compass Box Phenomenology Blended Malt Scotch Whisky | 4.5 | 2 | £143 |
| The Norfolk Parched Single Grain English Single Grain Whisky | 0 | 0 | £46.45 |
| Caol Ila 1981 36 Year Old Connoisseurs Choice TWE Exclusive | 0 | 0 | £600 |
| Glenglassaugh 47 Year Old 1968 (cask 2230) – Rare Cask Release Batch 3 | 0 | 0 | £2995 |
| Macdonald’s Glencoe 8 Year Old Blended Scotch Malt Whisky | 5 | 6 | £39.95 |
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.