Appleton Estate 8 Year Old Reserve Finest Jamaica Rum, 70 cl

Product Information

Fans of the Appleton brand will find plenty to enjoy here, though it’s lighter on its toes than previous expressions. The nose feels fresh, with ample alcohol but plenty of fruity esters, some baking spice, and a swath of orange peel. Lightly oaky, there’s a note of chocolate in the nose as well. The palate is again quite light, almost thin at times, informed by lots of vanilla, chocolate, and orange peel. A touch of hogo— coming across with a slight hint of curry powder — provides some depth, though the overall impact remains muted on the finish — almost basic at times. On the nose, the 8 Year Old Reserve is markedly more expressive and mature than the Signature, with notes of grilled pineapple, banana and ginger. There’s a more savory and slightly more wild dimension to this dram, with a greater oak presence and considerably more spice—the slight bump in proof makes itself felt in an appreciable way, lending heft to these flavors. This one strikes me as particularly fruity, with lots of pineapple, citrus and passionfruit notes, closing with a bit of supporting oak tannin. A well-made simple rum without all the "funk / hogo" High Ester frippery. :-) Blended perfectly and harmoniously by Joy. For beginners, bartenders and whoever.

Sipped the rum has a little more “fire” in its belly than the nose might have suggested. That said it is still very sippable at 43% ABV. It’s certainly not “rough” in anyway.This is exactly what the company has done, condensing the “core” lineup into the following three bottles: Appleton Estate Signature Blend, Appleton Estate 8 Year Old Reserve, and Appleton Estate 12 Year Rare Casks. These brands re-debuted in the spring with a new bottle shape as well—taller and slimmer than the previously squat Appleton bottles, but with some of the same shapely curves. It’s a thoroughly modern approach, as indicated by this quote from Marsha Lumley, marketing director of J Wray and Nephew Limited, Appleton’s parent company (itself owned by Campari): Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. Made in the Nassau Valley, a lush and fertile terrain in the heart of Jamaica - here, is where every drop of the select reserve pot-still rum used in the Appleton Estate 8 Year Old Reserve is aged, for a minimum of 8 years in the tropical climate of Jamaica, giving it a smoother, fuller flavour. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services.

I said at the time that I didn’t see much of a future for the Reserve Blend and it looks like I might have been right about that. Providing this new Reserve 8 is a genuine upgrade to the Reserve Blend. Or it might also be short-lived. This is a fine rum for mixing, but it doesn’t have the gravitas that you might be seeking in a straight sipper — and which you might be used to from the rest of Appleton’s lineup. Im Abgang harmonisch und lang. Wie ein karibischer Sonnenuntergang, alles verschwindet langsam nach und nach. A nice fruitiness as well with banana and some sweeter notes of green apple. Pretty much everything noted on the nose makes an appearance. The long spicy and oaked finish is wonderfully well balanced with the sweeter richer notes found in the rum.This line up came into place around 3 to 4 years ago? Maybe slightly longer. Before that line up we had Appleton Special, Appleton V/X, Appleton Aged 8 Years, Appleton Aged 12 Years and Appleton Aged 21 Years. Taking aside Appleton White there has been five different Appleton Estate expressions available for quite some time now. Until recently we had Appleton Special (which has been re-branded as Kingston 62), Appleton Signature Blend, Appleton Reserve Blend, Appleton Rare Blend Aged 12 Years and Appleton Aged 21 Years. Appleton Estate 8 Reserve. Whenever a new bottle design is revealed in the rum world, it’s immediately met with suspicion of price increases and changes to the liquid. Downgrading of the liquid of course no rum gets better in time you must understand! All in all, though, the biggest takeaway for me in this tasting is my new appreciation for the mid-tier 8 Year Old Reserve—if what Appleton wanted to do in this revamp was get attention on the newest blend, then they’ve done a good job of it. Here’s hoping I can find it for close to MSRP going forward. Nosing Appleton Estate 8 Reserve will also remind you of Appleton’s further aged expressions. It has more refinement and elegance than the Signature blend. On the nose there are notes of Banana and Coconut and a little splash of Pineapple but you get a lot more toffee, caramel, banana bread and milk chocolate. There is also an English Breakfast tea note which reminds me of Worthy Park’s rums.