The Appleton Estate  has been producing exceptional-quality rums since 1749, and their Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old and Appleton Estate 21 Year Old  celebrate their fine tradition of handcrafting award-winning rums. Whether you are looking for the perfect gift for your favorite rum aficionado, small batch bourbon lover, or single malt devotee, these aged Appleton Estate Jamaica Rums will definitely be appreciated.

Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old, 43% ABV, is a blend of rums that have received a minimum aging of 12 years in oak, and is presented in the distinctive Appleton Estate distinctive bottle with a gold and black label highlighting the Estate's heritage Since 1749. With a suggested price of around $28, the Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old is an excellent and well-crafted sipping rum for the money. Appleton Estate  Extra 12 Year Old comes attractively presented in a deluxe gift box featuring two Riedel spirits glasses making it a perfect gift for the holidays.

Tasting Notes: The Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old color is a rich bronze, and the aroma offers luscious sweet notes of warm spices, reminiscent of nutmeg and ginger, with orange peel, vanilla, and cocoa. Over time, the notes mature in the glass offering heady aromas that make this aged sipping rum so special. On the palate, the flavors continue to deliver what they promised on the nose, as well as offering butterscotch, toffee, brown sugar, and toasted nuts, with a lovely lingering warm finish. This fine rum can be served neat, with an ice cube, or with a splash of water and slowly savored.

Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old

Appleton Estate 21 Year Old, 43% ABV, is a blend of rums that have received a minimum aging of 21 years in oak, and is presented in the unique hourglass Appleton Estate bottle, with a classic blue and silver label proudly noting 260 years of crafting the world's finest rums. 

Each year there is a limited production of only 12,000 bottles released, and each bottle of the Appleton Estate 21 Year Old is elegantly presented in a handsome navy and silver canister that is perfect for gift giving. Each bottle has a striking navy and silver booklet regally displayed from a silver ribbon that proudly tells the story of this very special rum and includes tasting notes, its pedigree that includes its number and date produced, and is signed by Joy Spence, Master Blender, Appleton Estate. Looking at our certificate, we noted that our bottle was number 01,957 out of 12,000 bottles and was produced in 2008. With a suggested price of around $125 bottle, this is a very rare exceptional sipping rum for true brown spirit connoisseurs.

Appleton Estate 21 Year Old

Tasting Notes: The Appleton Estate 21 Year Old is a rich copper color with tawny notes, on the nose it entices with a mélange of heady floral and spice aromas that deliciously meld together evoking vanilla, orange peel, butterscotch, toffee, and cocoa notes; on the palate it continues to mature and deliver with its luscious smoothness offering sophisticated flavors of toasted nuts, molasses, brown sugar, and a touch of wood that reveals the long cask aging of this truly exceptional rum. The Appleton Estate 21 Year Old can be served neat, with an ice cube, or with a splash of water to appreciate its exquisite well-crafted complexity.

Appleton Estate 21 Year Old

Speaking with Master Distiller, Joy Spence, we learned that Appleton Estate, located in the Nassau Valley, part of the famous Cockpit County in Jamaica, produces their rum on a single estate, and has a unique microclimate that affects the terroir. Other factors that contribute to the high quality of Appleton Estate rum include the fertile soil, specially selected sugar cane varietals, water that is exceptionally soft that comes from a spring that originates on the Estate and is naturally filtered through the limestone hills, the molasses, the natural culture of yeast that is used in the fermentation process that has been handed down through the generations, and small batch distillation in specially designed copper pot stills that are unique to Appleton Estate.

Minimum age is another distinguishing factor of Appleton Estate Jamaica Rums, which have minimum age statements on their labels. For many spirit companies, the age noted on the bottle is depicted as a range or an average age of the blends to create the product. Under Jamaica law, the marques that make up the individual blends must have all been aged in oak barrels for at least the number of years stated on the label. Therefore with Appleton Estate Jamaica Rums, when the age on the bottle states 12 years, it means that every marque of the blend has received 12 or more years of barrel aging, and when the age on the bottle states 21 years, it means that every marque of the blend has received 21 or more years of barrel aging.

Master Distiller, Joy Spence

Appleton Estate uses white mature American oak barrels for their aging process that impart lovely aromas as well as color to the rum. Once the rum is placed in the barrels to age, they are stored on palettes with every barrel computerized with tasting notes and the exact location of the barrels noted, which Joy referred to as combining tradition and science. Every six months, Joy and her team sample the barrels and make tasting notes so that they know how each barrel is developing, which will help Joy select the barrels she will use to create a blend. After the rums receive the desired number of years of barrel aging, they are blended and married to handcraft the finished rums. Appleton Estate is the leading producer of minimum aged rums, and demonstrates smoothness in taste, balance, and unique character.

At Appleton Estate there is always something new going on, including offering limited editions and creating rums that are only available at the Appleton Estate Rum Tour in Jamaica, and they are firmly dedicated to preserving the environment and Green Manufacturing. At present, they harvest both mechanically and manually, however by 2010, they are committed to "Green Cane Harvesting" which means that harvesting will be 100% mechanical and will not involve burning the sugar cane fields prior to harvesting. In addition, byproducts of both the sugarcane milling process and distillation process are used as fertilizer in the sugar cane fields at the Estate.

When a company has 260 years of excellence and high standards behind them, it is wonderful to see that they have their eyes clearly on the horizon as they continue their legacy and tradition. When you sip Appleton Estate Jamaica Rums, you are experiencing the heart and soul of Jamaica.

You might also like to read about Appleton Estate Limited Edition 30-Year Old Rum in the Liquor Cabinet section.

Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum is imported by Kobrand Spirits. Please visit the website for additional information at: www.KobrandWineandSpirits.com.

Kobrand Spirits
The Centre at Purchase
One Manhattanville Road, Building One
Purchase, New York 10577-2118, United States
Telephone:       +1-914-253-7700
Fax:                  +1-914-253-7906
www.KobrandWineandSpirits.com 
www.AppletonRum.com 

If you are planning a trip to Jamaica and would like to experience the Appleton Rum Tour, please visit the website: www.AppletonRumTour.com.

A Division of J. Wray & Nephew LTD.
Appleton Estate Rum Tour
Siloah P.O., Elizabeth
Jamaica, West Indies
Telephone:       +1-876-963-2215-7
Fax:                  +1-876-963-9218
Email:              This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  
www.AppletonRum.com

© December 2009. Luxury Experience. www.LuxuryExperience.com. All rights reserved.