Type Aged Rum | Producer Appleton Estate | Region Jamaica > Nassau Valley | ABV 40% | Volume 700 ml | Price (AUD) ~$50
House notes
Appleton Estate Signature is the aged rum that most Aussie bottle shops actually stock, and at under $55 it is a small miracle of pricing. Four-year minimum Jamaican rum blended from column and pot still, aged tropical, and it shows. Molasses, brown banana, a hit of orange peel and a spicy finish that carries on longer than you expect. This is the bottle you reach for when the Pina Colada needs a float of proper aged rum on top, or when you want a Rum Old Fashioned that feels like it has something to say. Also a very good sipper neat, over one big ice cube, on a summer porch with someone you like.
What it pairs with
The Pina Colada float, the Rum Old Fashioned base, the Dark ‘n’ Stormy (if you can’t find Gosling’s), and a very respectable neat pour. Food: grilled pineapple, pulled pork, anything smoked, coconut-based curries, and a Mars Bar for dessert if you are six and honest about it. Works also in a Hot Buttered Rum when it finally gets cold. Not a Daiquiri rum; too heavy. Save it for drinks where it has room to speak.
About the producer
Appleton Estate is distilled in the Nassau Valley in Jamaica’s Cockpit Country and has been making rum since the 1740s, making it one of the oldest continuously operating rum distilleries in the world. Master blender Joy Spence, the first woman to hold the title at a major rum house, has been at Appleton since 1981.