Tasting

How does Appleton Estate taste? Usually soft and warm: orange peel, vanilla, cocoa, dried fruit, with woody spice on the finish. The rum is unsweetened yet feels rounded thanks to the cask notes. Anyone who thinks high-ester rum is the only side of Jamaica will be surprised here.

Three examples show the range. Appleton Estate Signature is the accessible, younger bottling at 40 percent. The Rare Casks 12 Years comes in at 43 percent and at least twelve years in cask; here the wood emerges more clearly. By comparison, Wray & Nephew White Overproof, from the same group, is unaged and, according to the producer, bottled at 63 percent.

Glasses with a narrow chimney shape, nosing glasses or tulip glasses, concentrate the aromas. Room temperature is fine; served chilled, the rum feels closed off. Nose it first, for two or three breaths, then take a small sip and let it spread across the whole palate. If you don't have a nosing glass, a small wine glass works; what matters is that the rim tapers inward.

Neat or with water? At 40 to 43 percent, the rum usually doesn't need any. A single drop of still water can open up the spice, but more quickly dilutes it. Ice cubes mute the nose; if you like them, use the younger rum for that.

When tasting several bottlings side by side, arrange them from youngest to oldest, this is the only way the delicate fruit of the younger rum remains perceptible. Water and a little bread help between glasses. Noting the nose, palate and finish separately makes the differences visible again even days later.