Timorous Beastie 12 Year Old Highland Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
Our best price:
£57.25
Timorous Beastie 12 Year Old Highland Blended Malt Scotch Whisky is a 12 year old blended malt whisky (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!
Ben Nevis 1991 25 Year Old
Our best price:
£700
Ben Nevis 1991 25 Year Old is a 25 year old single malt whisky from the Ben Nevis whisky distillery...
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Brora 1982 13 Year Old Cadenhead’s
Our best price:
£1000
Brora 1982 13 Year Old Cadenhead’s is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Brora whisky distillery (located...
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Deanston 1999 19 Year Old Daily Dram
Our best price:
£145
Deanston 1999 19 Year Old Daily Dram is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Deanston whisky distillery...
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Glen Garioch 1970 27 Year Old
Our best price:
£1200
Glen Garioch 1970 27 Year Old is a 27 year old single malt whisky from the Glen Garioch whisky distillery...
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Glenesk 1984 Connoisseurs Choice
Our best price:
£399
Glenesk 1984 Connoisseurs Choice is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Glenesk whisky distillery (located in the...
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Haig’s Dimple /1950s Spring Cap
Our best price:
£
Haig’s Dimple /1950s Spring Cap is a blended whisky. The best price currently available is from for only £ we...
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Port Dundas 14 Year Old 2004 (cask 12936) – Clan Denny (Douglas Laing) Grain Whisky
Our best price:
£43.95
Port Dundas 14 Year Old 2004 (cask 12936) – Clan Denny (Douglas Laing) Grain Whisky is a 20 year old...
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Royal Brackla 11 Year Old 2007 (cask 307918) – Signatory
Our best price:
£
Royal Brackla 11 Year Old 2007 (cask 307918) – Signatory is a 30 year old single malt whisky from the...
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Teaninich 1999 19 Year Old Claxton’s
Our best price:
£
Teaninich 1999 19 Year Old Claxton’s is a 19 year old single malt whisky from the Teaninich whisky distillery (located...
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Unnamed Orkney 2006 12 Year Old Signatory Island Whisky
Our best price:
£43.75
Unnamed Orkney 2006 12 Year Old Signatory Island Whisky is a 20 year old single malt whisky. The best price...
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Blanton’s Original Single Barrel Bourbon
Our best price:
£95.16
Blanton’s Original Single Barrel Bourbon is a 29 year old bourbon whiskey. The best price currently available is from Amazon...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grant’s Family Reserve Magnum | 2.5 | 2 | £44.01 |
| Glentauchers 1996 22 Year Old /Jack Wiebers Old Train Line | 0 | 0 | £162 |
| Aultmore 6 Year Old 2011 (cask 12072) – Provenance (Douglas Laing) | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Glenugie 1976 25 Year Old Signatory | 0 | 0 | £750 |
| Bower Hill Barrel Reserve Bourbon Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey | 0 | 0 | £62.63 |
| Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique #092A (2012) Taiwanese Whisky | 0 | 0 | £210 |
| Glenugie 1977 26 Year Old Murray McDavid | 0 | 0 | £1000 |
| Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength Batch B1-18 | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Reference Series II Blended Malt Whisky | 5 | 2 | £104.95 |
| The Glenrothes 1976 (cask 2677) (bottled 2015) | 5 | 1 | £869.28 |
| Glen Grant 15 Year Old Batch Strength | 0 | 0 | £77.95 |
| Jack’s Pirate 17 Year Old Das Gestohlene Schiff XIII Island Whisky | 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.