caramel coloring is a colloid commonly used to color spirits including brandy, rum, and some whiskies, especially scotch whisky (as well as beer, soft drinks, and a wide range of foods). Caramel is an amber to dark-brown liquid or solid prepared by carefully heating food-grade carbohydrates (sugars such as sucrose, glucose, malt syrup, and molasses are all permitted), sometimes in the presence of alkalis or salts to assist the caramelization process. Under regulations defined by the United Nations Joint Food and Agriculture Organization / World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), caramel used in spirits manufacture can be plain caramel or spirit caramel (category E150a), made without the use of ammonium or sulfite compounds, or caustic sulfite process caramel (category E150b), made in the presence of sulfite compounds but without the use of ammonium. (E150a is used in whisky and other high-proof spirits, and E150b is more typically used in cognac, as well as in sherry and other wines.) On its own, caramel is an intensely colored substance with an acrid aroma and a bitter flavor, and only a very small amount is needed to color a bottle of spirits. Caramel is usually deployed for one of two reasons: to achieve a consistent appearance in an aged spirit that otherwise would show some variability in color and to give a spirit a darker hue, sometimes implying the spirit shows greater age or quality.
See also hue/color.
CFR-Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, last modified April 1, 2016, http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=73.85.
“Physical & Chemical Properties of Caramel Color.” Sethness Roquette. http://www.sethness.com/caramelcolorfacts/properties.php (accessed September 30, 2016).
By: Paul Clarke