Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12-Year

So I’m in a fancy restaurant. Of course they’re heavy on whiskey. I asked about the rum and their top shelf is this and Zacapa 23 with which I’m familiar. I ordered an old fashioned and asked for a straight sip of the AE12. Good stuff.

So, this is just first impression and it is quite good and quality rum, one that makes you easy and enough funny and happy...
Would recommend

This rum has a very harsh alcohol taste. I would put it in a tea on a cold rainy day. But otherwise this is a complete miss for me. Add few more bucks and buy something like Mount Gay XO. It might work though, if you are seeking that "alcohol punch". Than again many cheaper bottles have that as well.

Blind tasted this one with Zaya 12, Kirk and Sweeney 12, and Plantation XO 20th anniversary with a few friends. All my friends had this bottom out of the four. I had it second behind Plantation. I found it more complex than the Zaya and K&S with an awesome afterburn on the palate. I think some newer rums are forced sweetened, not being allowed time to mature normally in the barrel.

My 2nd favourite rum - more cognac type, and not too sweet, wonderful aroma, great aftertaste, bold...and nice bottle.

Nice molasses with good body and its well rounded none of the spiky flavour profile that I get with the Signature which is my go to regular Rum. I can detect the difference to the old 12 year but that bottle is long gone and a comparison is no longer an available option

Orangeish brown colour. This rum has a distinctive oak aroma, with melon and honey; there is a clear yet faint ethereal note to the smell. In mouth, it shows the dry woody flavour with a cognac-like feel to it. Roasted nuts in the finish. Medium body with a warming spiciness (nutmeg). A recommendable one for people who prefer drier rums.

I know I'm supposed to like this, as it is pretty much regarded as the benchmark for Jamaican rum, but it's never the first bottle I reach for when I fancy a little drinkie.

The main issues I have with it aside from the price, are that there is too much of the things I'm not that keen on, like oak and alcohol burn, and not enough of the other things I like in a rum, like sweetness, caramel. and a smidgeon of earthiness.

You can drink a few glasses of it, but the first few sips can be a little hot on the tongue. Finish the glass with a glug or indeed, anything more than a sip and you'll be wincing with the alcohol burn.

For the price of it, there a better sipping rums available. (I haven't really used it with a mixer ... I leave that for the likes of the standard mass-market rums.)
It could be that I'm just not that into Jamaican rum :-/ ... I have a tiny bit of the Joy edition left and whilst it is more complex and smoother than the 12-year, similar basic characteristics are there.

Good rhum, never dissapointing. Bought it at discount price, well worth the money. Good on the rocks.

This one is a funky skank! Good think smelly rum with some dank skank flavors! Heyoo!