Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12 Year Rum

I sipped this neat, just like a good bourbon or rye. You could taste the molasses, yet it wasn’t sweet at all. Smelled like a slightly sweet Jim Beam when poured.

Nose: Heavily oaked molasses, burnt sugar, astringent spice, shoe polish, bitter oils freshly squeezed from an orange skin, rancid walnuts, deep down a light trace of vanilla. It's a fairly big and interesting nose, but not pleasant or compelling. Just interesting. Palate: Initially soft and sweet, it quickly develops into a dry, spicy and slightly tart palate. It's quite rich and full of molasses and raisins. Then as it sits on the tongue, and particularly as you swallow, it suddenly develops a very hot ginger, chilli and dark cocoa burn. It's noisy, busy and more rowdy than high-spirited. Finish: As the boisterous palate subsides it fades away on a raft of astringent, bitter oak tannins, and the final memory is raisins. In addition there is a lingering spicy burn that could be called length, but it's actually just fallout from the hot spice in the development. I didn't like this rum and I’m surprised it is so popular and rates well here – maybe I had a bad bottle? I do like a dry, spicy rum and I’ve enjoyed other Appleton Estate rums I’ve tasted over the years, but this one just didn’t work for me. There is far too much acrid, tannic oak for my palate. It was adequate as a mixer but I was glad to see the bottle finished and I'd not buy it again. “Adequate” : 70/100 (2 stars)