Enthalt Zuckerkulor

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Enthalt Zuckerkulor

Unread postby cowdery » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:52 pm

It was reported to me by a correspondent that Bulleit Bourbon labels in Germany contain the phrase "Enthalt Zuckerkulor." I don’t know German, but a literal translation seems to be “contains sugar color,” which I interpret as the addition of spirit caramel. Am I translating it correctly?

Spirit caramel is a common coloring agent, permitted in scotch, but added coloring of any kind is prohibited for bourbon.

I don’t mean to suggest anything illegal. I understand that U.S. law only regulates what is sold in the United States. However, there is an argument that to preserve the integrity of the product, producers shouldn’t sell anything outside the U.S. that they can’t sell inside. The most common example of this is underproof products, but this would be another example.

I'm interested if anyone knows more about this, but I'm also interested in your opinions about whether it matters to you that at least some companies sell as "bourbon" in export markets products they can't call "bourbon" here.
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Unread postby LogicalFrank » Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:02 pm

I think the practice is dishonest regardless of legality. Having the word "bourbon" on there implies that the whiskey is made as per the legal definition that we use in the United States (regardless if the same laws apply in the other country or not). It seems to me that the intent of calling it bourbon is to mislead the consumer into thinking the whiskey was made in accordance w/ the laws here when it's not (after all, they could just call it "whiskey" or "American whiskey").

It's a matter of degree though and this sounds like a relatively minor infraction when all is said and done. However, it's not that big of a jump to selling bourbon w/ some caramel color as bourbon to selling bourbon mixed w/ neutral spirits w/ some caramel color as bourbon. It's a slippery slope and I'd much prefer the definitions stay as they are now.
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Re: Enthalt Zuckerkulor

Unread postby Bourbon Joe » Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:51 pm

cowdery wrote:It was reported to me by a correspondent that Bulleit Bourbon labels in Germany contain the phrase "Enthalt Zuckerkulor." I don’t know German, but a literal translation seems to be “contains sugar color,” which I interpret as the addition of spirit caramel. Am I translating it correctly?



Chuck,
You are translating it correctly.
Joe
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