Appleton Estate Black River Casks 15-Year

While I don’t enjoy this as much as some other rums, it is one of my favorite Jamaican rums. The initial scents I got more banana, vanilla, and some sweetness. The first sip was more oak than anything.

As I was doing dishes while sipping this, it was left on the counter for about 15 minutes before I came back to it. At that point I had some odd scents, akin to soft, warm bread and apples. The taste at that point reminded me of overripe bananas or fried bananas.

And while the thought of it may give some people a slight heart attack, I bet it would make an excellent El Presidente.

Enjoyed picking up a couple of these when visiting the distillery in Jamaica.

I find this less complex than some of the other Appleton's I have had. Not bad by any means, but not worth the money compared to the others in the lineup. Feels like it lost some of that funk.

Fruity, funky, woody with a slight balanced sweetness, but in the most natural way possible

Appleton 15 black cask

Nosing
Toffee Treacle, coffee

Tasting
Not that much different from 12 year ... slightly more molasses heavy based ...

This is a very good rum with the signature Appleton flavors. It's more dry and spicy than the 12 year. But it's not really any better. Worth a try. But I'll be buying more 12yr bottles instead.

Dark chocolate and vanilla touch in the aroma, cognac, almond, coffee, woodiness in the body, long-term tail.

Kicked off another epic tasting Sunday 9/19/21 with this charming flavorful treat.
Lots of caramel flavor and aroma and my notes indicate that at the time I thought I also caught an aromatic whiff of lavender ??

This rum is a personal favourite of mine. It's smooth, complex and refined. It makes a great gift for a special occasion. This rum has a permanent place on my shelf.

When comparing the price of this to the Appleton's 21 year reserve, this is not too far off in taste. but significantly cheaper. You can certainly drink this a lot more regularly than the 21, without the need of such a special occasion to justify opening it.

The packaging is nice. Overall, I am not a new fan of Appleton's new look, but with the lettering being directly on the bottle, rather than a label, this is where the range starts looking a lot more premium.

My 3rd Appleton and went from a 7 rating for the 8 year reserve to an 8 rating for the 12 year rare cask to a 9 rating for the 15 year Black River. I actually am doing a side by side comparison with the little bit of 12 year that I have left. Black River 15 is slightly more complex in taste throughout and is just a tiny bit less harsh. Both have a nice deep amber color but the Black river has more of a red or auburn color to it. The 12 year has a tiny bit of that Jamaica funk to it where the 15 year Black River seems to be missing it. Which is fine with me. Can not go wrong with either one but for me thev15 year is a slight improvement.