In my continuing quest to think outside the spirit box, I have developed not only an appreciation for gin, but also one for rum. Well not just any rum, Jamaica's finest Appleton Estate rum. Earlier this week I was invited to an tasting at Spruce restaurant in San Francisco, and I got to sample the rich caramel-colored liquor neat in four different cocktails.
Appleton is Jamaica's oldest producer of rum and they've got rum-making down to a science. The sugar cane is environmentally estate grown and distilled and blended in small batches by Joy Spence, the industry's first female master rum blender. Spence describes Appleton as a "playful, but serious rum" that "should never see the inside of a blender." Instead we were instructed to "sip it up!" Spence, who was on hand at the tasting, guided us through the four steps to properly enjoy fine rum. To find out what they are, keep reading.
