Appleton Estate’s newest rum release shines the spotlight on its Master Blender Joy Spence.
The limited-release 25-year-old Jamaican rum Joy Anniversary Blend commemorates the 20th anniversary of Spence being named master blender for Appleton — a first for a woman at the time and still a rare title for women two decades later.
Joy includes two rum marques “which are of particular sentimental significance to me,” Spence says in a press release. “The first of these marques was laid down to age in 1981 — the year I joined the Appleton Estate team, and the second is my favorite marque of pot still rum.”
These two distinct rums are combined with other marques of rum for a blend with subtle mellow oak notes, the company reports, along with flavors of orange peel, a mix of ginger, spice, warm vanilla, butterscotch, and coffee, with lingering layers of almond and toasted oak.
The finish is of brown sugar.
Appleton Estate’s Joy Anniversary Blend is bottled at 90 proof and retails for an suggested price of $250 per 750-ml. bottle.