Appleton Estate Hearts Collection Velier 21-Year

Nejméně výrazná ze všech tři ročníků. Ve vůni pomeranc, drevo a alkohol. V chuti to stejne. Nicméně taky dělo kousek

As every Jamaican rums fanatic I was of course very excited to taste these 3 Appleton..

The 1999 one is the "youngest" and "lightest" of the serie, receiving maybe less interest than the two other bottles. Young and light are of course not the best words for a 21y pot still Jamaican.

I was afraid to have extremely ester-y rums, or maybe "oak-juice" but no. The nose is verrrry complex (as the whole serie) and deserves a lot of time to appreciate the evolution. Woody, mineral, zesty, fruity, pastry, medicinal, you will find almost every family of aromas you can expect in a great spirit. The 1999 is maybe more zest-y of the 3. The wood is very developped-which is not surprising- but does not dominate the other flavours, I found a good balance between the different aspects.
The 63% abv is more noticeable than in the two others but still very well integrated.

Neat : bim bam boom, explosion of all the over-mentionned flavours but the alcohol burns a little too much. Woody and zest-y (orange peel) are the dominant aromas but here again there is a very interesting complexity. As with the nose the experience lasts very long and all the variety of flavours will slowly change to a more medicinal and fresh aftertaste.
A drop of water just calms down the alcohol burn but keeps all the aromas untouched. Worst to try.

To sum up : not a cheap bottle, I was afraid to be disppointed with an almost undrinkable wood-juice or an over-ultra-high ester poison but... this is not the case. It is really a beautiful spirit and I loved it.

Please note that these expensive bottles will all disappoint you if you are into light, sweetened rons. We are speaking of very pungeant, dry, old and flavourful spirits. Absolutely great in their category but not for everyone tastes.

This is the youngest of the 1999/1995/1994 heart collection Series and first Marque 855 g/100Laa pot still rum ever made by Appleton. A partnership between Velier and Appleton, excited!

Cant’t whait to taste the two others. If you like high ester and Jamaica funk or Appleton and full power. This is the one for you!