Appleton Estate has launched its Hearts Collection. The limited edition series from the Jamaican distillery features three pot-still Rums aged between 21 and 26 years.
The Appleton Estate Hearts Collection is a collaboration between the distillery’s master distiller Joy Spence and Luca Gargano, the Italian rum collector and owner of Velier, a Genoa-based specialist wine and spirits importer.
The trio of Rumas are the first single-marque pot-still Rums ever released by the Jamaican distillery. Each release features a different vintage; 1994, 1995 and 1999, and just three thousand bottles are available from each marque.
“I was looking for beautiful, spicy, fruity notes, something rounded with vanilla, a little coffee, and cocoa notes coming from the oak. The smell and taste are so enigmatic. It takes you into a different world,” said Spence. “Pot still rum is such an amazing rum, it’s such an amazing base to work with – it’s the heart and soul of our blends.”
“For me, the Hearts Collection is really to show how many colours – the biodiversity—of Appleton Estate in the sense that the Estate has so many different marques, so many different vintages,” said Gargano. “The big value of Appleton Estate, in parallel with Joy’s exquisite blending techniques, is its production, heritage, and stock – which makes it the best distillery in the world.”
The Appleton Estate Hearts Collection will hit shelves in November and December in selected, premium spirits retailers in global markets including Italy, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and Jamaica. The collection is set to become available in the United States in early 2020.
At the end of August, Appleton unveiled a new Rum blend, the 8 Year Old Reserve, and also introduced a new design featuring a reimagined bottle and label. The sleek new version of the iconic bottle shape is accompanied by a sophisticated new cork closure. The new label with the Appleton Estate Jamaica insignia as its centerpiece, tells the story of each rum blend, as well as the unique production process.