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rum made by veteran Cuban distillers.
The “bottle” is inspired by the Shuar
people from the Amazon jungle. They still
carry on the tradition of shrunken heads
taken from their enemies as war trophies.

The rum first appeared in 2011 and is
marketed by Iconic Brands who are
American. They also market the
Flashbang tequila which comes in the
shape of a grenade. Sales of the rum are
going well worldwide though it appears
expensive for the quality.

Jamaica. The Appleton Estate was
granted to Captain Francis Dickinson in
1655. The first rum was produced in 1749
which makes it Jamaica’s oldest sugar
estate and distillery in continuous operation.
J Wray and Nephew purchased the estate
in 1916 and remained owners until 2012 when they were taken over by
Campari. By the way Nephew actually was the nephew of J Wray and
not the surname of a partner.

The most common Appleton
brand in New Zealand is
V/X which appears in
various ages and label
variations. It was launched
in 1987 with the name
changing to Signature blend
much later. One unusual
feature of the Appleton
production team is that the
master blender is a female.
Joy Spence has held the
job for 25 years and is one
of the few ladies to hold a
high position in the rum
industry. She has made
many improvements not
only at Appleton but to the
rum industry as a whole. So highly regarded is she that in 2017
Appleton released a limited 25 yr old rum in her honour. It is called Joy
and comes in a lovely bottle but I do not think it comes in miniature
form. However there are plenty of Appleton miniatures around to
collect.

Many years ago I gave my father in law a stone crock of 20 year old
Appleton rum. After all he was a master mariner. It was so good all I
got was a sniff of the cork.
Frank Wynn

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