The Appleton Rum Shortage and More Dr. Joy Spence Notes

Some additional notes and commentary from the Appleton 17 Legend event last week in London, this time pulling out a few items that weren’t directly related to the release of that rum expression.

Dr. Joy Spence noted that Appleton only uses high quality barrels for aging, because “if you age in crap barrels you get… crap.” Finely noted and certainly a factor in the end result quality of any aged rum. 

According to Spence, the Scotch Whiskey Institute did a study of the same distillate aged in Scotland and In Jamaica. The study found that the distillate aged in Jamaica was three times as fast for the same effective taste.

We asked about the shortage of Appleton 12 and Appleton 8 during most of 2022. Spence noted that it was a supply chain problem due to inability to get bottles from their sole supplier. That supplier couldn’t make the bottles because they got their raw materials from Ukraine. So, if you’re looking for another reason to dislike Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion… Hopefully we won’t have to revisit Appleton 12 shortages again.

Lastly, Spence described a cocktail that’s a favorite in Jamaica. The drink is called the Epic Cocktail and it is made thusly. 1) Open a coconut. 2) Crack open the top. 3) Pour in some Appleton 8, then drink. “You’ll have an epic time!” I’m sure that’s definitely the case.

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