The Women are Taking Over the Top of the Rum World

      There are more and more women being found at the top of the rum companies around the world.  Joy Spence was the first and she is celebrating 25 years with Appleton.

Appleton Estate's Joy Spence

        Appleton Estate has honored master blender Joy Spence’s 20th year at the distillery by launching a 25-year-old rum, named Appleton Estate Joy Anniversary Blend.   Joy Spence’s creation, the limited edition 25-year-old minimum aged rum also includes rums that have been aged up to 35 years.  “For my anniversary blend, I simply set out to create the rum that I’d like to sip while watching the colors of my garden change in the warm glow of the Jamaican sunset,” Joy Spence said.   “It includes two rum marques which are of particular sentimental significance to me: The first of these marques was laid down to age in 1981, which is the year I joined the Appleton Estate team, and the second is my favorite marque of pot still rum. The final blend is a wonderful rum that I hope will be become a cornerstone of my legacy.”

     Spence graduated from the University of the West Indies with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and the University of Loughborough with a Master of Science in Analytical Chemistry.   She joined Appleton Estate as chief chemist and quickly became “enthralled” with the process of blending rum.  Over the next 16 years, Spence learned under the expert guidance of former master blender Owen Tulloch.   Joy Spence’s became the world’s first female master blender in 1997, it came at a time when rum was primarily made and consumed by men.

     Appleton Estate Joy Anniversary Blend will be rolled out across markets starting in March 2017.   The new offering “opens with a delicate orange peel top note”, a hallmark of Appleton Estate rums.  On the finish, there are hints of “warm vanilla, butterscotch, coffee and layers of almond and toasted oak.
Serve neat in a tumbler to fully appreciate Appleton Estate Joy Anniversary Blend, which opens with a delicate orange peel top note, a hallmark of Appleton Estate rums, intertwined with ginger and spice. The aroma finishes with vanilla, butterscotch, coffee, and layers of almond. The palate is exceptionally smooth with a long, elegant brown sugar finish.