Appleton Estate Extra 12-Year

Every time I enjoy this, I can hear Joy Spence with that wonderful patois accent saying, "No added shu-gah!".

What a delightful creation. One of the few I enjoy neat.

Nose - Apricot, Oak, Molasses
Palate - Spice, Vanilla, Caramel, Orange

Long, outstanding finish.

This is a standard of excellence, top to bottom.

With the manipulations of some other heralded brands, I understand why a master artist like Ms. Spence could be vexed at uninformed comparisons.

As the title says, this was the rum I was drinking the night I lost my virginity.

Can’t say it was the most incredible experience and I think due to that I don’t look to fondly on this rum.

In my opinion, you don’t really age rum — it gets spoiled.

Whisky needs it, but you can over-age that too, and take out the character. I think people are only aging rum these days to appeal to Scotch drinkers who don’t know better. You end up with a bland, syruppy thing on your hands.

That said, Appleton 12-yo is pretty good, but suffers somewhat from the above defects.

As to why anyone would buy their 30-yo — some people have more money than sense!

Good as a mixer not sure of all the hype . Not sweet at all with an acid burn . Will be serving this on mixed .

This is a very nice rum, well balanced, not too much funk and it caught my interest for Appleton rums!

This is a great rum if you like yours on the not sweet side. Good for sipping or mixing with coke.

This 12 year expression much more elegant than reserve and also need 15-20 mins to breath in a glass. Some rubber/resin still there but it's become more pleasant

Good rum for semi-regular enjoiment. Taste is quite complex, but also bit hars for the age. It is no longer easily available for me, so my last tasting was some time ago (5 - 10 years) and product may have changed. I wish it would still be more easily available as the taste, noise and price was quite nice package. As far as i know the rum used to be quite natural (no added sugar or flavors).

Ritter Sport Run raisin on the nose - not surprisingly, as that is made with Jamaican rum. But it does indicate chocolate and raisin notes. In time, vanilla also appears in the smell.
On the palate those notes reoccur, but bolstered by just a bit of that Jamaican funk. Maybe orange peel as well? Actually seems a bit sweet to me for a Jamaican rum, but I quite enjoy it.

Enjoyable smooth rum. Most enjoyable neat, up or rocks.