Appleton Estate 15 Year Old Black River Casks Rum
Photos via Appleton Estate
Last year, savvy rum drinkers quickly would have noted the new look of bottles from Jamaica’s dependable Appleton Estate, the storied distillery that has served as an introduction to the joys of Jamaican rum to so many now dedicated tiki-philes. It was a lineup-wide refresh, which saw core pieces like Appleton Signature and Appleton 12 Year Rare Casks unchanged, but also the addition of a new star in the form of the very tasty and high-value new Appleton 8 Reserve. In my opinion, the 8 Year blend immediately became Appleton’s best product from a value proposition, offering no shortage of flavor and a slightly higher proof point (86 proof, 43% ABV) for your $30 investment.
Now, the core Appleton lineup is further solidifying with the new addition of a 15-year-old, year-round rum, entitled Appleton Estate 15 Year Old Black River Casks. This is, of course, not the first time that a distillery like Appleton has put a 15-year-old product out into the world, as there have been other, similarly aged Appleton limited releases in recent years. But this one is notable for the fact that it adheres to the new packaging/labeling style and is intended for wide distribution, effectively making it the new “ultra premium” high end of the core Appleton lineup. Its price takes a modest bump, from the roughly $40 of Appleton 12 to a new price point of $65 for Black River Casks. That means this new expression will have a somewhat harder time competing with the likes of the 12 Year Rare Casks from a value standpoint, but $65 for a 15-year-old, tropically aged Jamaican rum is still pretty hard to come across elsewhere. The name “Black River Casks,” meanwhile, pays homage to the Black River of Jamaica’s Nassau Valley, which supplies the limestone-filtered water used to create all of the distillery’s products.
Like all new Appleton products, 15 Year Black River Casks was conceived and blended by Master Blender Joy Spence, a living legend of the rum industry at this point who is celebrating her 40th anniversary at Appleton this year. Judging from her work on Appleton 8, I find myself anticipating this one quite a bit.
Also of note: The distillery is likewise reintroducing its 21 year old expression in the current generation of packaging, now titled 21 Year Old Nassau Valley Casks and carrying an MSRP of $150. I don’t have a sample of that one to taste today, so let’s get right to tasting the 15 Year Old.