WHISKY & WHISKEY – EPIDOSE 2 VELVET CAP IRISH WHISKEY
My thoughts on a newly released whiskey blend from Blackwater Distillery. Reviving an old brand and doing it the right way, Introducing: Velvet Cap Irish Whiskey.
My thoughts on a newly released whiskey blend from Blackwater Distillery. Reviving an old brand and doing it the right way, Introducing: Velvet Cap Irish Whiskey.
So I would consider myself an Irish Whiskey enthusiast (always learning), and I’ve seen this topic come up a number of times. I didn’t particularly pay too much attention to the “controversy ” surrounding it until a recent phone call with a fellow whiskey enthusiast. E150a was mentioned, to which I honestly admitted I didn’t know much about the additive only that I heard some whiskeys are colored with it. I didn’t know why, or what exactly it was, or how it was implemented or made, etc etc. The argument was made that a certain whiskey didn’t have any coloring in it, it was completely natural and that its color came straight from the cask, but how could one compare that whiskey to say one that did in fact have coloring in it?
This conversation got me thinking, what don’t I know about caramel food coloring that I could research and perhaps share a bit of info on, turns out its been widely researched in Scotch whiskey, but Irish? Let’s jump in.
In the most simplistic of breakdowns, its food coloring. Caramel color to be exact. The correct definition of E150 is:
a “light to dark brown liquid or solid which is obtained from controlled heating of sugars; obtained from controlled heating of sugars with the help of chemical reactants” (European Technical Caramel Association, Euteca Decision Tree)
E150a (plain caramel) is “prepared by the controlled heat treatment of carbohydrates (commercially available food-grade nutritive sweeteners which are the monomers glucose and fructose and/or polymers thereof, e.g., glucose syrups, sucrose, and/or invert syrups, and dextrose)”
In short,
They heat up Carbohydrates, A process called caramelization. The entire breakdown of the process can be found here.
There are four “classes” (American I, II, III, IV) or INS – E numbers (European A, B, C, D,) set forth by the United Nations Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food additives (JECFA). Each of these classes contains a number of caramels with their own unique properties that render it useful for use in certain food and/or beverages.
When it comes to Irish Whiskey, our main area of focus is E150A, plain caramel/spirit caramel coloring.
As can be seen from the graph, E150A is our main area of importance when it comes to its uses in Whiskey. This is mainly due to the fact that this particular class or number, has the least amount of impact on flavor. B through D tend to have other sulfites and ammoniums in them that may adversely affect the flavor profile of Whiskey.
There can be arguably a number of reasons that distilleries might decide to use small amounts of E150a,
The jury is out on this one. I have not found one scientific bit of evidence carried out that will either confirm or deny that E150a impacts the flavor of Whiskey. Now bear in mind we aren’t talking about huge quantities being used in Whiskey coloring and it is at the discretion of each distillery how much they may or may not use in vattings. However, I did come across this video and had a laugh.
So, in light of all that information thrown together, what are your thoughts on E150a being used in the production of Irish Whiskey? Yay or nay ye say? If it doesn’t affect the flavor profile then does it matter?
Would you like to see the label regulation changed to have it shown, Do you think the industry should be more transparent in their use of E150a?
Literally, thoughts?
Sláinte.
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My thoughts and review on the newest Edition to the WD O’Connell whiskey range!
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