Springbank 15 Year Old
Our best price:
£62.95
Springbank 15 Year Old is a 15 year old single malt whisky from the Springbank whisky distillery (located in the...
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Whiskies not containing Spirit Caramel (E150A)
The bottles listed below have been confirmed as free of E150A spirit caramel
Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon
Our best price:
£22.4
Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon is a 70 year old bourbon whiskey from the Four Roses whisky distillery. Rated an...
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Springbank 10 Year Old
Our best price:
£39.99
Springbank 10 Year Old is a 10 year old single malt whisky from the Springbank whisky distillery (located in the...
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Laphroaig Select
Our best price:
£30
Laphroaig Select is a single malt whisky from the Laphroaig whisky distillery (located in the Islay region). Rated an average...
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Jim Beam Devil’s Cut Bourbon Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Our best price:
£25.5
Jim Beam Devil’s Cut Bourbon Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a bourbon whiskey from the Jim Beam whisky distillery. Rated...
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Ardbeg 10 Year Old
Our best price:
£39.95
Ardbeg 10 Year Old is a 10 year old single malt whisky from the Ardbeg whisky distillery (located in the...
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Ardbeg Exploration Pack
Our best price:
£
Ardbeg Exploration Pack is a single malt whisky from the Ardbeg whisky distillery. Rated an average of 4.1 out of...
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Old Pulteney Duncansby Head 1l
Our best price:
£57.83
Old Pulteney Duncansby Head 1l is a 1 year old single malt whisky from the Pulteney whisky distillery. Rated an...
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Teeling Brabazon Series Edition 2 Port Cask
Our best price:
£69.95
Teeling Brabazon Series Edition 2 Port Cask is a 2 year old single malt whisky from the Teeling whisky distillery....
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Glenfarclas 15 Year Old 70cl
Our best price:
£50.84
Glenfarclas 15 Year Old 70cl is a 15 year old single malt whisky from the Glenfarclas whisky distillery (located in...
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Glenlivet Nadurra Oloroso Batch OL1117
Our best price:
£57.95
Glenlivet Nadurra Oloroso Batch OL1117 is a single malt whisky from the Glenlivet whisky distillery (located in the Speyside region)....
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Teeling Revival 5th Release 12 Year Old Irish Single Malt Whiskey
Our best price:
£105
Teeling Revival 5th Release 12 Year Old Irish Single Malt Whiskey is a 12 year old single malt whisky from...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruichladdich Octomore 03.1 | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Bruichladdich Classic Laddie Scottish Barley Small Bottle | 0 | 0 | £17.25 |
| Righ Seumas II 8 Year Old 2006 – Crafted Blend (Murray McDavid) Blended Whisky | 0 | 0 | £39.95 |
| Springbank 15 Year Old | 4.2 | 181 | £62.95 |
| Highland Park Full Volume | 4.4 | 14 | £96 |
| Glen Scotia Victoriana Cask Strength | 0 | 0 | £71 |
| Arran Cote-Rotie Cask Finish | 4.3 | 7 | £46.95 |
| Mackmyra Svensk Rok Amerikansk Ek | 0 | 0 | £58.29 |
| Finlaggan Red Wine Finish | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Benriach 16 Year Old | 0 | 0 | £49.98 |
| Elijah Craig 18 Year Old | 4.3 | 19 | £ |
| Tomatin Cask Strength 57.5% | 3.6 | 15 | £45 |
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.