Not another Appleton review
Just a few quick sips of their baseline aged products, the Signature and 8-year
Sipping tips: When you pick this up, I implore you to chew your food before swallowing. Most spirits taste harsh if you down it immediately (taking shots or drinking it like its juice): you’re blasting your palette and taste buds with high-proof alcohol. Take a small swig, let the liquid sit in your mouth, and hug every crevice for 4-5 seconds (open the taste buds). Down it. You’ll pick up all the flavors and truly know what the beverage tastes like. Once you do that 1-2 times, your palette is ready. Drink away neatly.
And to my NY’ers, I am sorry for all the wild language.
RUM – WE ARE BACK!
Let’s get the ‘where did you find those personal-sized Appleton bottles’ question out the way. Rum purists, na na na boo boo, you can’t find these. Simple answer: I purchased them in Jamaica. Given Appleton is the island’s most commercial rum, you can get personals of the Signature and 8-year pretty much anywhere around town. It’s a rather unexciting and mundane shopping experience. I’ve never come across these sizes anywhere in the U.S., and I’m fairly confident that Campari and J. Wray & Nephew won’t direct these non-money makers to anywhere outside of the island. This is all from the perspective of unit cost relative to unit price/tariffs (now) and all of the other fees to get a product to the U.S.). Doesn’t make financial sense is my best guess.
Alright, let’s drink.
Part A – Nothing but the feels.
Picture the scenes. You’re drunk in Kingston. It’s a Saturday night and you’ve had 1 or 2 flasks of Appleton. Bro drove in from Montego Bay. You’re probably doing the Jangas to Ribbiz circuit. It’s 1am, the party just got started. You hear Valiant’s Motorcade go off. What a…normal weekend in Jamaica.
If you didn’t catch on to the scheme by now, I’ll unbury the lead –
You wake up very late the next day and remind yourself that you ain’t in your twenties anymore. You vow that it will never happen again, but 30-plus-year-olds actually mean it. 20-plus-year-olds ponder that sentiment as a let’s-see-how-I-feel-next-week vibrations.
The point here: if you see bottles of brown liquor at a party in Jamaica floating around, there’s a very strong chance it will be one of the Appleton rums being reviewed. If there are a ton of flask-sized brown liquor bottles around, again, most likely the Signature or 8-year. And with that, let’s talk about them.
Starting with the Signature.
This is the rum that your cocktails will be made with when – YES, WHEN – you visit the Appleton Estate Distillery.
It’s incredibly approachable/balanced. Just enough for an intro. It also won’t bite much because it is 40% ABV. But remember, it’s still Jamaican rum, it’ll open up that palette a bit more when compared with other 40% ABV rums (like a Brugal, for instance).
For me, it’s very mild on the palette, kind of falls flat in an introductory way while still lingering after a bit of tasting. Will stand up in them cocktails for sure, but not much I’d do with it for sipping pleasure. Drop it in a rum old-fashioned if you feel compelled. Great intro to what a little bit of oak influence can do to a blended Jamaican rum.
If you are a smell-before-you-drink kind of person (read: I am), then I’ll tell you what I get: spicy apple, spices & candy, a little vanilla, and orange. Won’t tear your nose up, but be mindful…it’s alcohol. The Signature is fairly standard, which is what Appleton seems to be going for, anyhow.
On to the 8-year.
Arminder (The Rum Revival) called the 8-year a “freakin delight” and a “very delightful rum” –
In the Appleton Estate book (from the distillery), Joy Spence, Master Blender and creator of all things Appleton rum, said the following when asked which product she would drink if she could only select one (for the rest of her life) —
Wow … I would say Appleton Estate Reserve 8 year old.
I will review that book at some point, but I have a slight bit of skepticism about that statement, given 1) Madam Spence doesn’t drink that much rum (her nose does the majority of the work, per her), and 2) the 8-year became the company’s flagship product for pushing the brand into premiumization. Regardless, the sentiments above are warranted because, as Arminder said, the 8-year is a delight!
Let’s reverse it this time. First, smell. Four more years in that barrel (i.e., the youngest rum in the Signature blend is reportedly 4 years old) makes a difference in the aroma for sure. Hugs your nostrils a bit more and generally has a more robust smell. Deep burnt orange and banana. I’d also say deep burnt peach with brown sugar sprinkled on it (I don’t even know where I’m going here, but this is where I’m at). On to the whole purpose of the rum…
…what it tastes like!
Way more going on for the palette, but again – not overwhelming at 43% ABV.
A lot more oak character with the extra years; you can tell there’s slightly older rums in the blend, even if the youngest in there is 8 years old.
Some people use this in cocktails, but I think it’s a perfectly fine blended Jamaican rum to sip on its own.
Lingers…like good words said to you on a date…you want more
Is this still a rum review or some romantic post? It’s a rum review, get a hold of yourself.
Fantastic beverage and a crowd favorite, as you can tell.
I need someone to come up off that double cask! If it’s anything like what happens to a Woodford Reserve Double Oaked…I should probably just drink the Appleton 15-year. Never mind. I still want to taste it.
Where is the PART B – Historical, technical?
Not this time. I’ll get into all of that when I review the Appleton Estate book in August. If you are craving a dash of specificity on the technical piece, below are the specs on both rums from the Appleton website:
→ 8-year
Till next time.
I had an ‘I miss Jamaica’ moment while at a bar in Louisiana two weeks ago, so I ordered the 8-year to plant me squarely back in Kingston. Mentally, at least. NOLA reminded me so much of town, in VERY specific respects. I’m still trying to process it all. Article for another day.
When you drink Appleton’s Signature and 8-year, you are drinking what the people of Jamaica tend to consume (if going for an aged rum). Signature, in particular, is what folks typically bring to gatherings and such. Unaged rums, like J. Wray & Nephew (JWN), usually take up the majority of the shelf space. One and the same since JWN is the parent company of Appleton. More on that next time we talk about the brand.
Get your hands on these, you won’t be dissatisfied.
Signature it up for your cocktails.
8-year for a good sipping experience.
#rumresponsibly
Good read; very Insightful and authentic.Looking forward to the follow up.