Bring Appleton Rum to Valentine's Day

When I mentioned, in passing, to a friend that I had a bottle of Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve Rum, he a became quite animated. He said: "Wow! Jamaican rum has the reputation of producing some of the best Caribbean rum available. And Appleton Estate's Rum is the best of the best!"

And, of course, he was absolutely right!

The Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve Rum is a special rum carefully crafted for a very special occasion, the 250th anniversary of the founding of Appleton Estate in 1749, created by Master Rum Blender Joy Spence. Interestingly Joy was the first woman to hold the title of Master Blender. In recognition the government of Jamaica bestowed on Joy the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Officer (OD) for her service to industry.

Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve Rum is blended to include specially selected pot-still rum stocks from their inventory of aged rums.

This is not the strongest rum available, it's 43% alc/vol, but then this has been carefully crafted to provide a well-balanced and delicious rum, which is designed to provide a modicum of strength with a Zenith of taste.

The bouquet is inviting with a hint of cane sugar and the taste is deliciously warming and so very, very smooth.

By itself, or on the rocks, or with some high quality mixers. After all there's no point in skimping on mixers if you have a very high quality rum such as Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve, is there?

But what about cocktails? Here Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve really comes into its own. From simple cocktails using Cola, to more advanced cocktails, you will be in for a real treat.

My wife introduced me to a recipe that was a favourite of her brother. Rum and Cider.

The recipe calls for two thirds cider and one third rum, although, of course, you can adjust that to suit your own taste.

Obviously, only high quality cider should every be used and in this instance we used some Brothers Toffee Apple Cider which proved to be an admirable choice.

A 70cl bottle should cost about £25 to £30 or you can buy it in some restaurants, hotels and pubs. For example Wetherspoon pubs stock Appleton Estate's rum as part of their Rum Shack offering.

Or you can stay at home, create a Valentine's Day feast and finish the evening in style with Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve Rum!