What Are All the Colors Of Whiskey & How To Describe Them

I’ve never known exactly how to describe the color of whiskey and it doesn’t do justice both to the deliciousness of the drink and the beauty of its color to call it a particular shade of brown. Fortunately, some brands describe the color of their whiskeys, so I gathered the color descriptions of over 200 whiskeys and used that to find out what all the colors of whiskey are and how to describe them.

The most common colors that brands use to describe their whiskeys are a type of gold or amber. Other common colors used are amber gold, mahogany, honey, russet, copper and straw. Of course, whiskeys were described as a type or shade of one of these colors, most commonly light, bright, warm, medium or deep.

In the rest of this article, I’ll go into a bit more detail about what I found as well as the difference between whiskeys with a natural color and whiskeys that have caramel coloring added to it.

Throughout the article I’ve included examples that I found from the descriptions I collected, so if you happen to be drinking that particular whiskey, you’ll know exactly what color it is and how to describe it. 

The Colors of Whiskey

While most brands did not use one word to describe the color of their whiskeys, it was interesting that most descriptions were a form of one of these eight colors.

However, it was not the case that each color was used about the same number of times. Not even close. Gold was used 41% of the time, amber was used 15% of the time and all the other colors were used 6% of the time or less! This means that by a significant margin the most common color used to describe whiskey is gold.

Oh, and brown was used to describe the color of whiskey only 1% of the time.

And when it was used, it was usually preceded by the word ‘golden’.

Of course, most of the time whiskeys were described as a type or shade of one of the above colors, most commonly:

Whiskey was described as being light or bright gold as much as it was described as being deep gold and only occasionally was it described as being burnished gold. Whiskey was occasionally described as being warm or medium amber but most often described as being deep amber. Whiskey was never light copper or light russet but only dark copper or dark russet.

And if you’re not sure what the difference between some of these types or shades are, Whisky Magazine has created this useful 20-point whiskey color scale. It obviously doesn’t include all the unique variations made up by the brands to describe the color of their whiskeys, but it does give you a lot of shades that can be used for comparison.

Now for some real-life examples taken from the descriptions I collected. This is useful because once you know how brands describe their whiskeys, you can more easily come up with descriptions of your own.

The following table shows some of the whiskeys, whose color was described by their brand in just one word.

	Color
Athrú Annacoona Single Malt Irish Whiskey	Amber
Bowmore Timeless 31 Year Old	Auburn
Bulleit Rye Whiskey	Russet
Caol Ila 18 Year Old	Golden
Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old	Gold
Laphraig Cairdeas 2021 Pedro Ximenez Casks	Tawny
Rittenhouse Rye	Mahogany
Samuel Gelston’s Single Malt Irish Whiskey	Golden
Yamazaki 25 Years Old	Amber
Yamazaki Distiller’s Reserve	Gold

Most color descriptions were a two-word combination of color and type / shade. The following table shows some of them.

	Color
Aberlour A’bunadh	Auburn gold
Auchentoshen 12 Years Old	Golden honey
Auchentoshen 21 Years Old	Deep copper
Bowmore 12 Years Old	Warm amber
Bunnahabhain 12 Years Old	Russet gold
Bunnahabhain Stiuireadair	Amber gold
Bushmills 21 Years Old	Deep mahogany
Evan Williams Bourbon	Medium amber
Glenfiddich 18 Years Old	Dark gold
Glenlivet 14 Years Old	Rich gold
Glenlivet Founders Reserve	Pale gold
Lagavulin 16 Years Old	Deep amber gold
Laphraig 10 Year Old Sherry Oak Finish	Tawny, auburn
Macallan Sherry Oak 30 Years Old	Dark mahogany
Macallan Triple Cask Matured 18 Years Old	Light amber
Woodford Double Oaked Bourbon Whiskey	Deep amber
Yamazaki 12 Years Old	Pure gold
Yamazaki 18 Years Old	Deep amber

Finally, here’s some of the more complex, unusual, or simply metaphorical color descriptions that I found. I’ve highlighted those I thought were the most unusual!

	Color
Aberlour 12 Years Old	Golden amber with hints of ruby
Aberlour 14 Years Old	Deep amber with honeyed gold
Angels Envy Straight Bourbon Whiskey	Gold color laced with reddish amber hues, nearly copper in tone
Auchentoshen 18 Years Old	Deep golden summer barley
Ballantine’s 40 Year Old	Deep, intense liquid gold
Ballantine’s Barrel Smooth	Golden bonfire embers
Basil Hyden Rye Whiskey	Deep, rich amber with ruby undertones
Bruichladdich HB 90 / 27	A rich orange blossom honey
Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2011	Fresh Cut Straw
Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie	Sunlight on fields of early summer barley
Bruichladdich The Laddie Eight	Lemon marmalade
Bunnahabhain 30 Years Old	Golden syrup
Dalwhinnie 30 Years Old	Deep gold, with copper lights
Glenfarclas 25 Years Old	Amber with dark gold highlights
Glenlivet 18 Years Old	Old gold, apricot
Glenlivet 25 Years Old	Rich amber, golden shades
Knob Creek Rye Whiskey	Shades of gold to light amber
Laphroaig PX Cask	Antique gold
Macallan Double Cask 12 Years Old	Harvest sun
Macallan Double Cask 15 Years Old	Golden butterscotch
Macallan Sherry Oak 40 Years Old	Autumn russet
Teacher’s Origin	Deep gold with a dusky red tinge
The GlenDronach Allardice 18 Years Old	Bright deep gold with a tawny center
The GlenDronach Forgue Aged 10 Years	Burnished copper with a deep harvest-gold hue
The GlenDronach Peated	Vivid harvest gold
Whyte & Mackay	Rich mahogany gold with glittering amber

The Natural Color of Whiskey

Now while all this does tell us the color of whiskey as it is at the end of the day when you see it in your glass, the truth is that it may not be its real color.

You see, whiskey starts off with no color at all. The distillation process strips it of any molecules that could give it color, so it’s a completely clear liquid when it enters the barrel for maturation.

During maturation changes in temperature and humidity cause the whiskey to repeatedly seep in and out of the wood of the barrel and pick up all sorts of chemicals – wood sugars, vanillin, lactones, tannins and other compounds. And it’s these chemicals which gives the whiskey its flavor and its color.

Of course, several aspects of the maturation process vary from distillery to distillery and whiskey to whiskey which is why they can have slightly different colors.

So that’s how whiskey gets its natural color. However, some distilleries add caramel coloring or E150a to their whiskeys. They do this so that they can produce whiskeys with a consistent color or make their whiskeys darker which people perceive as better (darker means more time in the barrel and more time in the barrel means more flavors) but this is how whiskey gets its artificial color.

Obviously, this is a matter of much controversy in the whiskey world, but the point here is that E150a is often added to whiskey and E150a is a shade of gold or amber or amber gold, which is why I wondered whether the color of whiskey is simply the color of E150a!

To find out the real color of whiskey I had to focus on brands that keep their whiskey’s natural color and don’t add E150a. I looked at bourbons because while most countries allow E150a to be added to whiskey, America prohibits the addition of any coloring. I also looked at Scotch whiskeys from distilleries that have committed to keep their whiskey’s color natural:

And here’s what I found:

The Color of Bourbon

With no added coloring allowed these are the natural colors of bourbons.

The most common colors that brands use to describe their bourbons are a type of amber, gold or amber gold.

This is very similar to what I found for whiskeys in general, although this time it was amber that was the most used color by far – 37% of the time, with gold used 11% of the time and amber gold also used 11% of the time.

At first, I was surprised that the descriptions of naturally colored bourbons would be so similar to whiskeys with E150a coloring but there might be a logical explanation for it. Bourbons have to be aged in new barrels which will obviously have all their color to impart, whereas Scotch whiskeys have to be aged in used barrels which will obviously have less color to impart.

Perhaps bourbons can therefore get a beautiful golden color easily, but Scotches need a little extra help.

Either way, here are some useful, real-life examples of bourbons and their colors:

	Color
Woodford Double Oaked Bourbon Whiskey	Deep amber
Knob creek 9 Years Old	Copper to medium amber
Buffalo Trace Bourbon Whiskey	Deep amber
Evan Williams Bourbon	Medium amber
Evan Williams Single Barrel	Delicate amber gold
Basil Hyden 10 Years Old	Golden amber
Bulleit Bourbon Whiskey	Medium amber

The Color of Scotch Whisky

When looking at the color of Scotch whisky, I thought it best to compare brands who add E150a with those who keep their whisky’s natural color.

The most common colors that brands use to describe their Scotch whiskies that have added coloring are a type of gold, amber or amber gold. The most common colors that brands use to describe their naturally colored Scotch whiskies are a type of gold, mahogany, amber or copper.

In both cases, the color most used to describe Scotch whiskies was gold and in both cases by far – over 40% of the time, with the other colors each used only 10%-15% of the time, but it does also seem that naturally colored Scotch whiskies are described as mahogany or copper far more than those that aren’t.

And this is not because Scotch whiskies – especially in comparison to bourbons, have quite a wide age range (anything between 3 and 50 plus years), and the darker mahogany and copper colors were used to describe the older, naturally colored Scotches, because they were used just as much to describe the younger naturally colored whiskies too.

Presumably, it’s because Scotch whiskies have to be aged in used casks which means casks that were previously used to age another spirit, and while most are aged in ex-bourbon casks, it’s common for Scotch whiskies to be aged in ex-sherry, ex-port or ex-wine casks too! This means more color influences on the whisky, so when distilleries keep its natural color, we’ll see more being described as mahogany and copper.

The following table shows some Scotch whiskies and their natural color. As usual there are plenty of gold and amber descriptions but this time, they’re natural.

	Color
Benriach The Twenty Five	Deep amber
Benriach The Twenty One	Honey gold
Bruichladdich 1988 / 30 years	Polished copper
Glenfarclas 15	Rich golden amber
Glenfarclas 21	Dark amber gold
Glengoyne 18	Medium gold with a rich glow
Glengoyne 21	Deep copper
The GlenDronach Forgue Aged 10 Years	Burnished copper with a deep harvest-gold hue
Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour	Glowing amber
Highland Park 21 Year Old	Deep autumnal russet
Highland Park 25 Year Old	Rich and golden with warm hints of copper
Macallan Sherry Oak 12	Rich gold
Macallan Sherry Oak 18	Light mahogany
Macallan Sherry Oak 25	Rich mahogany
The GlenAllachie 12 Year Old	Deep mahogany
The GlenAllachie 18 Year Old	Intense chestnut
The GlenAllachie 25 Year Old	Beaten copper
The GlenDronach Allardice – 18 Years Old	Bright deep gold with a tawny center