Appleton Estate Rum 21 Year Old

This is what happens when you treat Jamaican Rum like a fine, single malt Whiskey … and it mighty good, mon!

Appleton Estate sits in the Jamaican “Cockpit Country” of Nassau valley, an amazingly unique area of rain forest with steeply domed hills and narrow valleys filled with some of the finest “terra rosa” soils on the planet. It is the Napa Valley of Rum … the Champaign region of sugar cane. If you are a lover of fine Rum, visiting this region is like a Scotch lover hearing distant pipes in the Highlands.

Appleton put this premium location to good use, aging all their Rums in nothing but Number One Select American Oak barrels, and the entire line is watched over by Master Blender Joy Spence, the very first woman appointed to that position … ever … anywhere … and she has game!

The heritage of this terroir of master rum-making goes back to 1655, and Appleton-branded liquid gold has been in constant production here since 1749. Appleton controls the entire process from cane to bottle, and it shows. They have a complete range of Rum spirits to choose from, including young, light Rum for mixing drinks to intensely flavorful aged spirits for sipping and savoring.

This Rum is all about the blush, and Appleton Estate 21-year has got it all! You see, when fine Rums are aged properly in premium barrels, sure they get darker and richer in color. But in addition to the golden amber hues taken on my most aged spirits, fine Rum takes on a reddish hue as well. And the pallet mellows out into a rich, viscous, flavor explosion. Its complex character will surprise you. Do not feel bad if you are fooled at first, thinking that you are having a fine, sweet Scotch or Cognac at first sip. Let it settle in and you will recognize all the Rum coming through.

When Uncle Flaviar took his first sip, he grew out his dreads, pulled up his kilt, issued forth such a sigh of satisfaction as we have not heard in a very long time, and immediately dropped to one knee to proposed marriage to the Master Blender, Joy Spence. She politely declined and poured him another round on the house.