To celebrate the occasion, we’re taking a closer look at this award-winning Appleton rum, starting with the most important question of all: What does it taste like? Joy Spence is the Master Blender at Appleton Estate. She is the first woman in the world to be awarded such a title and continues to lead Appleton Estate to win accolades around the world. The Appleton Estate offers a tour of their facility, the Joy Spence Appleton Estate Rum Experience, giving you the opportunity to see their process and taste their finely crafted line of rums. It’s a fun tour stop that mixes history, nature, and adventure in the cool hilly interior of the island. You’ll be given the chance to churn sugarcane and taste the rich molasses that produces the rum. Joy Spence trained as a chemist before she became the world's first female master blender when she took the reins at Appleton Estate in 1997 – so it's safe to say she knows a thing or two about seriously good rum. Very serious stuff indeed. It’s a real treat to try a Jamaican rum of this age, especially a rare traditional pot still bottling of Appleton. One for the hardcore rum drinker or the serious spirits collector.

Jamaica takes its rum very seriously, with strict rules about minimum aging to ensure all the rum in your bottle is at least as old as the age stated on the label – an initiative that was supported by Appleton Estate's very own master blender Joy Spence. The consumer palate has become much more sophisticated. Appleton Estate’s range boasts some complex and elegant expressions, which inspire us to both educate and entertain on a higher level. This relaunch gives us the opportunity to illustrate Jamaica’s rich history and geography, as we reinvent our most iconic international brand to connect deeper with our existing consumers and appeal to new markets across the globe.” What's more, this year saw Appleton Estate release its new minimum age variants. Unlike many other rum brands, if an Appleton Estate rum has an age statement on the bottle, then every drop of rum in the bottle has been aged for a minimum of the number of years indicated on the bottle. If you enjoyed our rum of the year then this 21-year-old expression offers a logical progression in terms of style and maturity. Here we find the hallmark orange and spice notes from the 15-year-old greatly intensified and accompanied by stewed fruits, raisins, prunes and sweet, oaky notes of toffee and vanilla.The rum is aged by marque in Number One American Oak Bourbon barrels, with each marque left to mature for different amounts of time in Jamaica's tropical climate. The barrels impart a complexity and depth of flavour. You can read more about this process overleaf. 7. Blending

This term refers to the individual pot and column still rums created during the distillation process. These particular cuts are developed by, and are unique to, each rum producer, and each rum marque has its own flavour. 6. Tropical aging On the nose, my immediate impressions are ripe dessert banana and molasses, along with light grassiness and faint hints of oak. Sweet brown sugar is featured prominently on the palate, along with sweet, toasty baking spice and fruitiness that trends toward caramelized plantains or tostones. There’s a bright note that is something like lime citrus, and an overall profile that is nicely balanced between freshness and richness, while being slightly punchy as well. All in all, though, the biggest takeaway for me in this tasting is my new appreciation for the mid-tier 8 Year Old Reserve—if what Appleton wanted to do in this revamp was get attention on the newest blend, then they’ve done a good job of it. Here’s hoping I can find it for close to MSRP going forward. This is exactly what the company has done, condensing the “core” lineup into the following three bottles: Appleton Estate Signature Blend, Appleton Estate 8 Year Old Reserve, and Appleton Estate 12 Year Rare Casks. These brands re-debuted in the spring with a new bottle shape as well—taller and slimmer than the previously squat Appleton bottles, but with some of the same shapely curves. It’s a thoroughly modern approach, as indicated by this quote from Marsha Lumley, marketing director of J Wray and Nephew Limited, Appleton’s parent company (itself owned by Campari):Appleton Estate – the oldest rum producer in Jamaica – takes even these regulations one step further further, distilling using pot stills and Jamaican limestone-filtered water, and fermenting using non-GMO molasses and non-GMO natural yeast. The brand is fiercely committed to tropical barrel aging, which means the rum ages three times faster than spirits aged in cooler climates, without losing any of the flavour. One sip of the bold, smooth, and aromatic flavors that make up the warm, comforting tones of liquid gold known as Appleton Estate Rums will ignite strong sensations within you. Appleton Estate is the oldest rum distillery in continuous operation in Jamaica and has been perfecting this fine craft since 1749. A winner of prizes and awards since 1862, Appleton Estate Rum is one of the best rums in the world. Jamaican Rum

Fermentation takes place using wild yeasts and lasts between about 36 and 48 hours. This relatively short ferment means that Appleton doesn’t have the big high ester flavours which occur during the longer fermentations used by certain other Jamaican distilleries. For distillation Appleton uses a mixture of pot and column stills. The pot stills are made in Scotland to Appleton’s unique specifications and the new make comes off at about 80% ABV. Most of the estate’s rums are blends of the two distillation styles but you do see some rare single pot still releases. Jamaican rum is very tightly regulated: the age statements follow the same rules as do those on single malt whiskies; the age stated must be that of the youngest spirit in the blend. All of the rum is aged in American oak barrels.Nose: Rich molasses hits you right away followed by clove studded oranges, cinnamon, almonds, apricots and plums. In addition to the fruit and spice there’s also a pleasantly phenolic side with engine oil, a dab of shoe polish and a drop of tar. We’re definitely in Jamaica. Observations: Here we have an excellent example of rum bottled without added flavourings or sugar, as per Jamaican regulations. At 15 years old, it shows excellent maturity without too much oak influence obscuring the spirit character.

Appleton is a great distillery and this is a great rum,’ says our buying director Dawn Davies MW. ‘It shows the perfect balance between elegance and power and would be equally enjoyable for someone just dipping their toe into rum as those already in love with the category.’ What’s in the bottle? No additives can be added, preserving the rum's purity of taste. The result is rum that's known around the world for its flavour. In the world of rum, there are few names as well-respected as Joy Spence. Raised in Kingston and studied in chemistry, Joy joined J Wray & Nephew – the owner of Appleton Estate – in 1981. In 1997, her work and talents were recognised when she was promotion to the rank of master blender, making her the first woman across the global sprits industry to ever earn the title. She has created blends for royals and heads of state, she was instrumental in gaining GI status for Jamaican Rum, and she is involved in numerous philanthropic ventures that aid women around the world. Appleton Estate's rums are a labour of love and a true art. Every rum is blended by experts, and every barrel is personally selected by Master Blender Joy Spence and her team. 8. Bottling Appleton Estate was acquired by another famous name in Jamaican rum, Wray and Nephew, in 1916. In 2012 the company was bought by the Italian Campari group. Today, Appleton Estate is considered one of the finest rums in the world. Only sugarcane from the estate which covers around 11,000 acres is used.On the nose, the 8 Year Old Reserve is markedly more expressive and mature than the Signature, with notes of grilled pineapple, banana and ginger. There’s a more savory and slightly more wild dimension to this dram, with a greater oak presence and considerably more spice—the slight bump in proof makes itself felt in an appreciable way, lending heft to these flavors. This one strikes me as particularly fruity, with lots of pineapple, citrus and passionfruit notes, closing with a bit of supporting oak tannin. This was clearly a good time to revisit the core range as a whole, so we commenced a tasting to do exactly that.