Apple Tree

Appleton Estate – Jamaica’s oldest rum distillery

Appleton Estate is the oldest operating producer of Jamaican rumand has been making rum in the Nassau Valley since 1749. The Nassau Valley has a unique landscape with limestone formations, through which the rainwater for the rum is filtered, making it extra pure. It is the combination of daily rainfall at 2:30 PM, limestone-filtered spring water, and the tropical climate that makes Appleton Estate’s rum special and one of the few rums in the world with a distinct terroir.

How Appleton rum is produced

At Appleton Estate, several different types of sugarcane are grown, contributing to the rum's flavor and complexity. Appleton's rum is natural rummade from molasses, diluted with limestone-filtered spring water and fermented with Appleton Estate's own yeast. The molasses is distilled using a combination of traditional copper pot stills and a modern column still.

Once distilled, it is aged in Number One Select American Oak bourbon barrels made of white oak and matured in a tropical climate. The tropical climate causes the rum to mature 2 to 3 times faster than in cooler conditions, and the aging adds notes of vanilla, coffee, cocoa, and hazelnuts to the rum. After aging, the rum is blended by Master Blender Joy Spence, the world's first female Master Blender, who since 1997 has created many of the blends for which Appleton has become known. Therefore, Appleton also has the motto "Crafted with Joy" – both as a reference to Jamaican zest for life and as a tribute to Joy Spence.
At Appleton, it is always the youngest rum in the blend that defines the rum's age.

Appleton primarily produces aged, dark rum, but with Appleton Kingston 62it has also created a light cocktail rum, which is actually something as unusual as an aged rum from which the color has been filtered away.