Going to the source of Appleton Estate's Jamaican rumson October 4, 2025 at 12:57 pm

Master blender describes what goes into making top quality rum, including a new $95,000 bottle

Appleton Estate master blender Joy Spence shows the water source used in the production of the distillery’s rums. Photo by Darren Oleksyn

Appleton Estate master blender Joy Spence shows the water source used in the production of the distillery’s rums. Photo by Darren Oleksyn

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The crystalline turquoise waters shimmer and dance invitingly in the sun on a hot, humid April day in Jamaica. We are at a spring-fed pond with clear waters burbling from limestone caverns in the heart of the Nassau Valley, 75 kilometres south of Montego Bay.

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Surrounded by rolling, forest-covered hills, this pond feeds the Black River. It is also the water source used by Appleton Estate to make its world-famous rums. The water, piped to the distillery about seven kilometres away, is mixed with sugar cane molasses and a proprietary yeast for fermentation.

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Appleton Estate master blender Joy Spence, the world’s first female master blender, is leading a group of writers through the rum-making process at the distillery, which has a history going back to 1749.

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Joy is the perfect name for the always smiling and laughing Spence, who started as a chemist at the distillery in 1981 and became master distiller in 1997. After our trip to the pond, which they call The Source, we head to the distillery where Spence explains how the fermented liquid is distilled in either copper pot or column stills. The two types of stills provide different flavour profiles, which are beneficial when blending. The copper pot stills are particularly noted for bringing a distinctive orange peel note to the rums.

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Following distillation, the alcohol, known as a marque, is transferred to No. 1 white oak American bourbon barrels and aged in the Jamaican capital of Kingston. Spence says they have around 180,000 barrels of rum of various ages waiting to be used.

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The warm tropical temperatures mean the spirit matures up to three times faster than in cooler climates, says Spence. This makes rum a great value because storage costs are much lower.

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“The value is exceptional in terms of the quality spirit that you’re drinking,” she says. “I keep giving the example of a 21-year-old rum. It would have to be aging for 63 years in Scotland. And when you look at the price of our 21 versus the price of a 63-year-old Scotch, it’s just no comparison.”

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While rum ages quickly, it can also improve for long periods of time. In July, Appleton released a 51-year-old rum, aptly named The Source. It is the world’s oldest tropically aged single-marque rum. Only 25 bottles were produced, coming from one single barrel that Spence has had her eye on for more than 20 years. Only one bottle of the rum will be available in Canada, with an eye-popping price tag of about $95,000 Canadian.