Appleton Estate 21-Year

On the nose: full, aromatic, floral, sweet fruits, berries, fruit tea, brown sugar, molasses, spices, leather, black tea, chocolate with oranges, nuts.

On the palate: fruits, sugar cane, brown sugar, syrup, forest honey, spices, oak, oranges, raisins.

In the finish: tea, spices, oak, becoming drier but still slightly sweet, nougat, slightly peppery.

In der Nase: voll, aromatisch, floral, süße Früchte, Beeren, Früchtetee, brauner Zucker, Melasse, Gewürze, Leder, schwarzer Tee, Schokolade mit Orangen, Nüsse. Am Gaumen: Früchte, Zuckerrohr, brauner Zucker, Sirup, Waldhonig, Gewürze, Eiche, Orangen, Rosinen. Im Abgang: Tee, Gewürze, Eiche, trockener werdend aber noch leicht süß, herb, Nugat, leicht pfeffrig.

A little dry for my taste and wasnt overly impressed. I much prefer the flavors in their 12 yr , 8 yr and VX.

Surprisingly light and many fruit flavors.
Needs more darker flavors to be more balanced but easy to drink Jamaica rum.

8, 12 and now it's 21. Definitely the best of, still has that great Appletons aroma and the same 43°.
Not very easy on the nose right from the bottle, but gets better after a while.
Absolutely smooth and delicious. More smoky oaky than sweet. Bunch of the dried fruits, nuts stays forever in aftertaste.
Worth it's price.
Not sharing it with my spouse - this is man's rum (she got Dictador) ;)

Edit few days later: 10+!

Appleton 21 is my first experience with unadulterated rum, so expectations are stellar!

Into the glass, the rum looks solid, with little, slow and multiple legs. Lavish-like, deep orange and rich brown greenish sugarcane colour.

At the nose, after few minutes it's still pungent, heavy, bourbon and prominently alcoholic. Coffee, cocoa, caramel. Powerful, dry fruits, floral vanilla bouquet finish.

At the taste buds is packed with spices, oak, dry. Bitter orange peel zest, bourbon, green almonds, roasted coffee, cocoa toasted beans, rounded in mouth and followed by a salted buttery sensation, quite long finishing in bourbon vanilla.

*After twenty minutes more or less, the blend sets more in a crystalline form, less smoky and opaque.
Elegant and classy raw brown sugar finishing (Raw demerara type).

Polished. Funky!

8,5/10 Bottles

The Appleton 21 year-old is one of their top bottles, but the quality really doesn't support that position. While the flavour of oak and treacle is quite balanced and there is the slight sweetness which is missing from the 12 year-old, it is still missing good aromas and doesn't really shine in any respect, while still being a decent sipping rum for everyday use.

Coffee and cocoa nodes on the nose, again cocoa and coffee notes on the palate, oranges, vanilla, full-bodied, balanced finish.

Found it less sweet than the 12yo (my go to) but v. enjoyable

Great dark color, smells great like brown sugar and spice, without a lot of alcohol burn on the nostrils. Rich flavors just like it smells. I'll say this about it, a truly great rum with a fat body to it.

Let it breathe a few minutes. Pour it, go do something and come back. Trust me on that. Right out of the bottle it hits the tongue pretty hard with the alcohol burn, but once it's sat for a few minutes, perfection. It's like if you transformed brown sugar into a much less sweet, dry version of itself and turned it into a drink with a splash of vanilla. Not artificial feeling in any way at all, it's all real deal. One of my wish list items, finally got it. Once in a lifetime, great stuff.

I've said it before, I treat myself rarely to a bottle over 50, and this one at over 100 is the first of its kind. Don't regret it a bit. It took some self control to work through this bottle. I savored every glass of this stuff.

This review is for the newer pictured bottling. I felt that I could not detect much complexity in this rum nor much nuance at all. Maybe my batch was off but I did not feel much oak for 21 year old rum and very little complexity. I feel as though this was very similar to the 12 year sadly but priced much higher in a fancier bottle. Don't get me wrong its a nice rum its not bad its decent but not worth it at all if you are looking for a differing experience from the 12 year in my thoughts. Not recommended.