Page 72 - IAADFS Summit 2023 Special Edition

INSIDER

“Appleton Estate has been around for a long time. We are the oldest
distillery in continuous operation in Jamaica,” says Joy Spence, Appleton
Estate Master Blender.
The Estate’s founder, Francis Dickinson, arrived in Jamaica in
1670, naming the Appleton Estate after his hometown in the UK. The first
legally recognized rum on the Estate dates back to 1749.
Joy Spence has a history with Appleton Rum going back more than
40 years. In 1981, she became Chief Chemist for J. Wray & Nephew Ltd.,
the maker of Appleton Rum. Spence worked under Master Blender Owen
Tulloch until she was named Master Blender in 1997, the first female
master blender in the spirits industry.
Today the vistor center is named after her: the Joy Spence Appleton
Estate Rum Experience.
The Joy Spence Appleton Estate Rum Experience can accomodate
more than 100,000 visitors per year and features a welcome center,
theater, interactive field stations, four tasting rooms, a restaurant and
lounge, and retail store.

Spence says Appleton Estate is in the ideal location to grow the
sugarcane which becomes Appleton Estate Jamaican Rum.
“We have these amazing limestone hills surrounding this lush green
valley. Every day around 2:30 we have showers of rain. Everything is
green, lush, and perfect for growing the sugarcane. We are one of the few
rum producers who can take the process from the cane to the cup. We own
our own sugar cane fields. We own our distillery and bottling facilities.
We control the entire process from the start.”

J. Wray & Nephew Limited paid tribute to the enslaved people
who worked on the Appleton Estate Plantation during slavery with a
monument that was unveiled at the Joy Spence Appleton Estate Rum
Experience in March.
The monument, titled “Lest we Forget”, was designed and built by
Jamaican artist Trishaunna Henry and shows the relationship between
sugar cane and the sociocultural and economic development of Jamaica.
The names of slaves who worked on the plantation during the ownership
of the then slave-owning Dickinson family have been incorporated in the
monument.

Summit of the Americas April 2023 72