The color of whisky

There is a practice amongst some distillers and bottlers to add caramel coloring to the liquid before bottling. This is apparently perfectly legal in the case of Scotch.

A really good tasting whisky that is pale in color is probably not colored, and the artificial coloring is sometimes added to achieve the cherished color we all love! Many experts who do a lot of tasting think the coloring can affect the taste. As a person who does not taste a lot of whiskies in a year I do not know, but in the "2004 Whisky Bible" it is the subject of at least 1 article.

This may be kinky, but I like really pale whiskies. If I have three or four in front of me, that are virtually white with only the slightest variation toward straw, the better I like them. When they come out of the still, by the way, they are virtually clear.

Curious Douglas... do you by any chance associate pale whiskies with the punch and slap of Islay, hence the preference for pallor in your malts?

Johanna

Douglas W. Hoyt wrote:

Possibly. I love the contrast between a virtually colorless liquid and incredible peat--it's like magic! And I think my first palest straw dram was indeed a Caol Isla. But the same magic will come from other flavorful faves, like Mortlach, Clynelish, and Old Pulteney.

I think I know what you mean.

Some very pale Islays (and I'm thinking of the Coopers Choice Caol Ila, for instance) do really have that contrast between powerful flavors and innocuous looks.

But another thing you can reasonably expect from those "white-wine and paler" whiskies is that there will not be sherry influence, or even bourbon wood influence, to any substantial degree. Especially with the independent bottlings which tend to be from a single cask or small parcel, it's like tasting the malt *un-masked*. Occasionally, I crave a good honest malt that isn't tarted up in wood finishes.

Of course, next week I'll want an Aberlour or Glenfarclas specifically for the sherried notes...

Bart

Careful--The Doctor may be tempted to respond to a sub-sub-thread! Wouldn't it be great (duck! incoming!) if no color were added to any whisky--including the first-fill sherry casks--so you could TRULY see what color comes up under what wood, and what circumstance. It wouldn't bias me against any malt--I guarantee it. Just the opposite--it would make me want to run out and buy more and more single malts to wonder at the natural paleness/color ratio (malt whisky bottlers please takenote!).